+

+ Christopher Lee, fantasy, History, horror, literature, Movies, Music, non-fiction

No Moment Wasted… A Hero Leaves Us.

by Unknown's avatar

I know that this is a few days late, but I’ve sadly been in a bubble working… On Sunday, we lost one of the greats. A man who is the embodiment of a life where no moment was wasted. A legend and one of my all time heroes… Christopher Lee.

Christopher was born in 1922 and his resume includes, but is no where near limited to…
WW2 Veteran,
A member of her majesty’s SAS
World Champion fencer
Actor
Director
Singer
Writer
Activist
Philanthropist

The list goes on. He was the template for almost every villainous character out there, but there was not an ounce of villain in the man. Though he did have a thundering voice that you probably didn’t want reading bedtime stories to your children.
I remember the first time I saw him. He was portraying Dracula in a movie that I was WAY too young to be watching. I remember being scared out of my mind.
However, as the years went on, I began to recognize him in other roles. He was a reoccurring villain in Pirate movies, and then took center stage as the villain in two of the biggest fantasy series out there: Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

When I listed off his accolades to my wife, I remember she had a sly look on her face as she replied, “Yeah, but in everything he did, I bet he didn’t have time for a family.”
Well… I looked into it and discovered that not only did he have a family, in rare form for a famous actor, he had been in a stable marriage with a child for over 5 decades. So add family man to that list.

There are few words out there that can really do this man justice… so instead, I’ll leave you, my readers with his thundering, but enchanting voice. Here he does what he loves so much, singing… with one of my favorite bands.

You inspired me in many ways… including my writing, and you will be missed, Mr. Lee. Rest in peace.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, non-fiction, Publishing, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Minimalist vs. Ornate?

by Unknown's avatar

“Hi Jim,

My book is done. I’m super excited about getting it published. My question to you is about the cover. What do you think I should go with, a simple cover with maybe a single item as the focal point or a big cover depicting a scene and characters? My artist is really pushing the idea that less is more in the cover.

Thanks,
Reese.”

Hi Reese,

I’m afraid you’ve got me there. I’ve honestly done both and seen success with both. Both covers can attract attention, but they’ll do it in different ways.

The best piece of advice I can give is to go with what feels right, but more importantly, let your artist’s imagination fly. That being said, if you’ve got an artist wanting to go minimalist, take a look at their other work and see how they’ve made either style work. If you like how they’ve done it with work in the past and you’re okay with a minimalist cover, then by all means go with it.

If you want a detailed cover with more intricacy, tell the artist that and have them create something great. In the end, it’s really up to you and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. When you hire an artist, YOU are the boss. You tell them what you want.

Now I’ve seen a lot of covers done both ways and all I can tell you is that you’ll want an attractive cover. You want something that will catch people’s eyes and while a minimalist cover can do that, it’s harder to do in many ways.

The other thing you want to look out for, in this case with an ornate cover is too much detail. If there’s too much going on, your going to make potential readers eyes hurt and they will pass over your book.

I wish I could help you more, but really this is a matter of taste and opinion and I’ve heard arguments on both sides. So whatever you choose, make sure it’s done well.

Readers, what do you think? Which way do you think she should go?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

This Above All…

by Unknown's avatar

“Hi Jim,

You’ve given out a lot of advice on your blog about writing and I was just wondering… do you have any piece of advice you would give to a writer? For example, if someone came up to you and told you that they are going to start writing a book, what advice would you give them right off without them asking?

Thanks,
Carolyn.”

Hi Carolyn,

I would refer them to the immortal words of the bard;

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3. 

Honestly, truer words have NEVER been spoken and it’s one of the immortal rules that I’ve always tried to live by. In writing, there are rules, styles, standards, and an unending fountain of opinions. No matter what road you choose, no matter what rules you have to bend and even break… because you will have to when you write. Believe me, there will come a time when you have to write something where if you stick the rules, it won’t make sense. When confronted with this, do what makes the most sense to you and have someone read it later.

Further… write what you want to write, not what others tell you that you should. I can personally guarantee you that if you write a book that you would want to read, it will turn out infinitely better than anything else you could right and people will pick up on that.

That is the advice I would offer.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+ Uncategorized

To write or not to write…

by Unknown's avatar

Staff's avatarOwl Things Considered

I intend to journal. I plan to blog. I mean to write down the thoughts that sift through my head, but unfortunately, good intentions only go so far.

Writing for school is simple; it’s due by a specific time, so I get it done. For myself, it is much more difficult. There are so many events, feelings, and blessings that I know would be beneficial to remember, but I can never seem to get them on paper.

So, to write or not to write, that is the question.

Do I just forget wanting to keep a documentation of life? I have so many other things to do; the list is endless. The thoughts I find worth going back over always seem to come when I’m right in the middle of something else, and byjournal-011 the time I’m finished, I’ve forgotten them. School papers, grocery shopping, and hanging out with friends…

View original post 291 more words

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Opinion, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

A Never Ending Story.

by Unknown's avatar

(Aaah aaah ah aaah aaah ah aaah aaah aaaaaah!!)

“Good Morning Jim,

You’ve wrote many times about how to end a story and where to end it. In your opinion, couldn’t there be a scenario where a story wouldn’t end? Is it not possible to have a serial adventure go on forever?

Thanks,
Jackson”

Hi Jackson,

In my opinion, as you asked, no. All things end and all though the Simpsons are currently defying this philosophy, it won’t last forever. Life ends, existence ends, stories end, everything at some point must end, that is the way of the world. I know that sounds somewhat depressing and dreary, but it really doesn’t have to be. Without an end, there is no closure. With no final answers to questions of the story, there is no completion and no satisfaction. This is why stories with open endings where things are left uncertain often crash and burn, while it’s always a good idea to let the audience connect as many dots as possible, there are certain aspects that should be answered for you to have a complete story if there will be no further sequels.

Again, this is my own personal opinion, I’ll let my readers voice their own opinions and let you what they think as well, but honestly, a story cannot go on forever. What attracts readers is the ability to relate to characters of a story. Characters age, die, and retire… To take that aspect away removes a major sense of realism to the story. There is also the risk that your story will eventually become repetitive.

This is especially true if you subscribe to the theory penned by Christopher Booker in his book, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. He penned the idea that writers only write 7 plots; Rebirth, Tragedy, Comedy, Voyage and Return, The Quest, Rags to Riches, and Overcoming the Monster. In this theory, there is no way to not become repetitive.

Personally, I don’t like this theory… but have yet to debunk it. So Jackson, in the end, I truly, honestly believe that there is no way to continue a story forever and it is ill-advised to try.

On a side note, if you’re having trouble ending a story, as I so often do, allow me the luxury of providing you with a song I often listen to that helps me write endings… and keep in mind that I recommend this being a person who is not fond of country music:

Readers, what do you think? What is your opinion of Jackson’s question?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Romance, Writing

Tasteful vs. Smut-peddling

by Unknown's avatar

“Hi Jim,

I’m in the middle of writing a fantasy novel. In my book, two of my main characters fall in love. I noticed in Magnifica that your main characters wind up having sex. I don’t want my story turning into sex-novel, which it looks like it’s starting to. When you wrote yours, how did you limit yourself? What made you stop when you did?

Thanks,
Lisa”

No matter what, no matter where or who you are… it ALL comes down to sex.

I was afraid that this would come up at some point… okay… Personally, I try to avoid the subject in my writing as much as possible for that very reason. However, when I wrote Magnifica, I went about trying to make a fantasy novel as realistic as possible. While there are limits to how ‘real’ a novel with Elves and Dwarves can be, expecting that two college kids who love each other, have been together for months, and are alone together before a big event that could change both of their lives, are NOT going to have sex is just not realistic at all. At least not in my opinion, being a college grad myself.

Honestly I went the minimalist route:
*Spoiler Alert*
Without another word, Lia’na bent her shoulders back so she could lean in and kiss him. Toby ran his hands up under his borrowed shirt caressed her back. Their bodies still felt incredibly warm from the night before as they lay together, but Toby’s fingers still managed to give Lia’na chills from the sensation.
Lia’na began to kiss Toby’s neck as his fingernails traced up her back. His right hand continued over her shoulder and down her chest. His hand then gently caressed her breast, which was firm but very smooth. His touch caused her to breathe more heavily than before.
Lia’na responded by moving away from his neck and kissing him firmly on the lips. Toby gathered what little composure he had left and gently pushed Lia’na back so he could look into her eyes, “Are you sure about this?”
A gentle whisper was the only response he received, “Te arshana ni.”

Honestly, I don’t have an answer for you as to what is defined as going too far and what isn’t. However, I do pride myself on trying to help anyone who comes to me asking, so I’ll say this; If you’re concerned that your book is going in that direction, then it probably is and it’s time to go back a re-read what you’ve written so far. Personally, it depends on how many scenes we’re talking about vs. how long your story is. In my books, I’ve never gone more than 2 of these types of scenes in one book.
In terms of description, that’s really up to you. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a little fan service in the story, but a play by play may be pushing it a little.
That said, this is all subjective. There’s really nothing wrong with writing sex novels, from what I understand they have a pretty massive following… it’s not my taste, but there is a huge audience out there for it.
So honestly, my best advice would be to re-read your book, you are the best judge of your own content when it comes to something like this. If it looks like it’s turning into smut, it probably is. If you read it and you’re still not sure, have someone else read it just to be on the safe side.

I hope this helps… time for a cold shower.

Readers, what do you think? At what point does a novel become a sex novel? At what point does a book go from just your every day story to smut?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+ Uncategorized

The joys (and perils) of writing

by Unknown's avatar

This is pretty much the truth! We’ve all been here!

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Publishing, Writing

Self Publishing, good or bad?

by Unknown's avatar

“Good day,

I have already finished a novel and decided to post my second novel on a blog and give people something to read while I decide on publishing.
My question for you is do I self publish my book or try and find a literary agent. I have sent my work out to a few but I am slightly impatient and want to know if they like it or not. I know it will take time but I wanted to get your thoughts on self publishing.
Mignon.”
The publishing aspect of writing seems to be a recurrent theme for me. Well the easy answer would be to refer you to my post: Getting Published, the Basics…
Fortunately for you, I’m a notorious work-a-holic when it comes to writing (just ask my wife). Well in my previous post about getting published I went over the pros and cons. Though it sounds like you’ve already tried taking steps towards traditional publishing. You say you’ve sent your work out to them, I sincerely hope by that you mean that you sent out a literary query. If not, I suggest you start writing one.
For help writing literary queries, I’d suggest this link. They have some wonderful examples of successful queries.
If I seem blunt, It’s just because I’m saying this for your own good… LEARN TO BE MORE PATIENT! Getting published is an exacting task and it takes a long time and a lot of work not matter which route you take. Literary agents literally get bombarded with queries, and they can take 4-8 months to respond. If you email them queries, they may not respond at all. Also, just because they don’t like your work, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not publish-worthy, it simply means that it’s not the type of thing they’re looking for, so be sure to research whom you’re sending them to.
Honestly if you’re hoping that self publishing is a quicker and easier path, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Self publishing is a great way to get yourself out there if you have the time, money, and know-how to navigate the waters. The problem is that you are responsible for EVERYTHING, and when I say everything, I mean it.
You can’t simply type something up, publish it, and then sit back and watch the $$ and praise come rolling in. It doesn’t work that way. A few big things you need to remember…
1. You have to come up with a cover. I don’t care if it’s digital or hard copy, in my experience, without an attractive cover, a book rarely does well in this market. The absence of a cover or a poorly done one is indicative of a lack of pride in your workmanship, something someone who is shopping around for a new book to read will pick up on. Remember, people are looking for something to immerse themselves in. Time is money and people these days are pick on how it’s used. A good cover done by a professional artist can run from $200-500. The latter if you don’t have a working relationship with your artist.
2. Copyrighting… Now I’m not just talking about a copyright or an ISBN#. EVERYTHING is copyrighted right down to the type of font you use. Using images in your book? Make sure you have the rights to them. Fonts? Buy a copyright or make sure they’re public domain. Also, make sure NOTHING in your book is copyrighted elsewhere, including song lyrics, direct quotes, etc. Even things that are considered public domain may have their versions copyrighted, so be careful.
3. Editing. There is nothing more damaging to a writer’s reputation than a book that’s chock-full of errors (grammar, spelling, and plot holes). You’ll want to have someone do your editing for you… and your mom or a close friend who doesn’t want to offend you isn’t the right person for the job… and professional editors charge by the word they’re never cheap, especially for lengthy novels.
4. Advertising. You are responsible for your own advertising. This is insanely difficult because everyone is trying to advertise theirs as well. Personally, I do mine by blogging, and social media. Twitter, Facebook, etc. There are also several pay services, but given how little authors usually get for their books, I recommend against it.
So hopefully I haven’t scared you off of self publishing, it’s a fine way to get your work out there to people. Just be warned, you’re trading wait time for footwork. There are obvious advantages to self publishing, including have complete creative control over your work, just remember, it is by no means easier than the traditional route if you factor in the amount of effort you need to put in.
Be mindful of which route you take and research everything BEFORE agreeing to anything or you could wind up signing your hard work away.
Readers, what are your thoughts on self publishing?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+ advice, Epic, fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Writing

Fantasy Creatures

by Unknown's avatar

“Hi Jim,

I’m in the process of writing a fantasy novel and was wondering how you chose what species to focus on? Your writings seem to focus on Angels and Elves, what made you decide to go that route over say… dwarves or faeries?

Thanks,
Allison”

Hi Allison,

Good question. It honestly comes down to a couple of different things. For starters, what does your situation call for? In my stories, I needed a character that could fill the role of a noble yet oppressed people. Dwarves don’t really fill that as they are usually brash, abrasive, downright vulgar people who would not tolerate being oppressed. Orcs… you try oppressing an orc and see where it gets you.
Honestly, in much of the folklore and mythology I’ve studied, elves tend to be soft-spoken, mysterious, creatures that are known for being somewhere between realistic and mystical. However, they are also known for being used as slaves, beaten, tortured, massacred, etc. Elves seemed to be the right choice to go with to fit that role.

The reason I used angels in the other stories is because they suited the narrative I was going for with my historical fantasy. I basically sought to answer a question I came up with for my story; What would happen if a celestial being appeared in 16th Century Europe. An angel was really the only being I could go with.

So you really have a couple of choices, you can do some research and figure out where each species archetypes lie (they all seem to have similar traits from one story  to the next), or if you’re really creative, you can create your own species. One that no one else has in any of their stories. The challenge there is to establish their culture, collective personalities, and moral standing early on, or having one as a lead character won’t make much sense.

If you are going to go with one of the traditional fantasy characters, I would just say to do some research into their backgrounds first and then build off of those. You don’t want them to be exactly the same by any means, but you do want them to posses some familiarities that people are aware of.

Anyway, hope this helps.
Readers, do you agree? Do you think that characters should remain certain ways so that readers can easily recognize them or should there be free reign on defining what is/is not a trait of one of the fantasy species?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ Comics, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Marvel, superheroes

Basing Characters on Loved Ones

by Unknown's avatar

Writing characters based on loved ones is a mistake. A BIG mistake every time for a multitude of different reasons and it could not be any more clear why as with the recent Frank Cho vs. Robbi Rodriguez dispute.

Allow me to explain, Robbi Rodriguez is one of the brilliant people who created the now-extremely-popular series Spider Gwen. Recently, a known comic artist, Frank Cho, did a sketch cover of Spider Gwen that Robbi took issue with (pictured above).

His response was less than flattering…

Here’s my take on the frank cho sketch cover. Your drawing dirty pics of one of my kids. Be lucky your never around me. #spidergwen

— RobbiRodriguez (@RobbiRodriguez) April 7, 2015

The full controversy can be read about here if you’re so inclined.

Now you can say that the cover is distasteful and maybe even pornographic, and that’s fine. I’m not asking anyone to like it or hate it. Whether you do or not is your own personal opinion and you have every right to it.
That being said, Mr. Rodriguez is 100% in the wrong here. The comic book industry is no stranger to objectifying women in poses like this or with… physically impossibly large body parts. They do it with men as well, but it’s less sexual and more masculine steroid looks. In any case, this is a fantasy world with characters that have been around since the 60’s yet have somehow barely aged 10 years.
Put aside your view whether you’re okay with this or not and look at it from an objective viewpoint.
Robbi, you create a character based on your daughter, put her into a comic book… a medium known for… as you call it, creating pornographic images, which is something you were very well aware of, and you’re mad at someone who takes the character you created and builds their own rendition of that character in the way they see fit?
Is it really Frank Cho’s fault or your own that this happened?
Characters in the comic world have been drawn and redrawn in multiple forms by multiple artists, that’s the industry.
This is one of a million reasons why you don’t base a character on someone you know or care about, especially a main character. Things happen to characters in stories that may be less than flattering and if god-forbid the person you wrote about ever recognizes themselves, you can deny it all you want, but it’s still going to look sketchy.

Even if that is not a problem or hasn’t happened, or you’ve somehow managed to avoid that in your writing, let’s say your writing becomes popular and someone does a fanfic of it at some point and it gets posted online, or you sell the rights to you story to a publisher or movie company. Guess what can happen to that character once other creative eyes get a hold of them?

People, do yourselves a favor, DO NOT base characters on people you know. It’s not as flattering as it sounds and it is prone to causing problems as we’ve seen.

Trust me, you’ll be a lot happier.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, Fiction, life, literature, non-fiction, Writing

Give Life to a Book about Life

by Unknown's avatar

“I am currently writing a book about my life experiences how do i give it life i currently have the bones (dates facts) but feel that it’s just a series of events how do i make it into a story? Thank you”
–lostgirl82

Hi Lostgirl82

Have you thought about writing it in the present tense in first person? If it’s something you experienced, then you should be able to write about what you were thinking at key points, how you felt, what was going on around you, etc.

Honestly, everyone has their own writing style, and you can certainly do it however you want, but in terms of writing about life experiences, this is one of the best ways: “So I’m here in the woods with my friends at the camp site. It’s beyond cold out as we sit on the snow-covered ground on the side of Mt. Jefferson. The chills running down my spine are like little needles jabbing me in the back as I begin to wonder how much more of this I can take. It’s at this moment that my friend hands me his bottle of Jim Bean, telling me it would keep me warm as they get the fire going. I take a sip. The hard liquid makes my throat clench and burns on the way down, but at least I don’t feel as cold anymore.”

Now I know that there are a lot of people who don’t want to name names and don’t feel comfortable doing something like this. So really your other option is to create a ‘you’ character and have that character deal with the same experiences. Granted, this would mean turning a work of non-fiction into fiction, but a lot of people prefer it this way.
Either way, be sure to add description and comparisons. Make people feel like they’re there with you. Describe your feelings at different times. The example of what the chills felt like is powerful because it’s something most people have felt at one time or another. Don’t be afraid to expand a little bit too.

There is no rule against adding a little fluff or interpretation to your writing. Put in how you think the people around you are feeling about the interactions you have with them. Once it’s done, be sure to reread it a few times and make sure that it makes sense to you. Remember, it’s not hard facts that people fall in love with when it comes to reading, it’s usually emotion.

I hope this helps.

Readers, what advice to you have to give? Is there anything you would recommend she do to give her story more life?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me. jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance. Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side! -Jim

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Science Fiction, Writing

Too Many Sequels?

by Unknown's avatar

“Hi Jim,

So I’ve been writing this book series for a few years now and have always gone the indie route publishing. I have about 8 books in the series, all of which have sold well, however everyone is telling me that I should move on and write something new instead of sticking with the same world and characters. Are they right? Should I abandon what I’m working on?

Thanks much,
Mike.”

Hi Mike,

Good question… so I’ve had people say the same thing to me before, but they were more saying that I should abandon the fantasy genre all together and write something… I’m quoting here… ‘people would actually read.’
Honestly, had anyone but this person said that to me, I’d probably be in jail for assault ;)… well probably not, but I wouldn’t have been happy. However this person is just unusually blunt to the point where they put you down without even knowing or intending to.
But I digress… Mike, do you have a solid reader base? Do you want to keep writing these characters? Are you enjoying it? If the answer is yes, then why is this even a question? Suffer the naysayers only as much as you have to. If your books are selling well, people enjoy reading them, and you enjoy writing them, I don’t see what the problem is. Keep on writing my friend! Keeping an audience hooked for 8 books is pretty impressive.
That said, I still think that everyone should breach their comfort zone at some point. Sooner or later, you’re going to get inspired to write new characters and a new story. When that happens, I really think you should pick up that torch and try it out, see where it goes. Who knows, you may have the same success, but for the time being, go ahead and keep writing.

Hope this helps!
What does everyone think? Should Mike stop and write something else or continue?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

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