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August 20, 2021 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Beating the Writer’s Block #Writing #Author #Advice

Right now, I’ve hit a bit of snag in my writing. I’m a few chapters in and I am unsure on how to progress from where I am at. I have a storyboard and basic layout of the plot but I’m just hitting my head against the wall second guessing how I SHOULD write it.

Any thoughts?

–Jak

Hi Jak,

I actually get this question a lot. So without knowing a ton about your specific case, I’ve been in your shoes at least in some way. You’ve got a great story, great ideas, but several directions you can go in with said ideas.

Well… I remember back in High School when we were taking SATs, we were told that if we didn’t know the answer, to go with our initial thought. Like you look at the answers and the first one that stands out as being right is the one you should go with. They didn’t want anyone second guessing themselves because then they’d foul up.
At the time, I thought that there was so much wrong with that advice… however when I realized how much of a time constraint we had, and how many of my answers turned out to be right when I went with me ‘gut.’ I realized that there was some value in it.
Intuition is a very powerful tool.

The same can be said for writing. If you’ve got a bunch of ideas flowing, go with the first one that pops out at you. Write it all out and get it on paper so that you can see and read your ideas. Often you’re going to find that those ideas were better in your head, but in most occasions, those initial ideas may only need a few tweaks here and there to iron them out.

In the instances where you read through and just think ‘Eh… this is stupid!’ you can always go back and change anything (or everything) that you need to.

So basically what I want you to do is sit down, look at what you have so far and ask yourself the question ‘What comes next?’ Then just write the first thing that comes to you. Don’t bother with any second thoughts, you can deal with those later.

Hope this helps. Readers, what do you think Jak should do in this situation? Let me know in the comments.

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 multiple 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

August 20, 2021 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Advertising, Get Your Name Out There! #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Hello, Jim–

I’ve followed your postings for a while through WordPress, and was wondering if you had any advice for jumpstarting crowdfunding for publishing a novel.

I currently have a novel-length project on Unbound.com that, despite some initially generous support from family and friends, has been stuck at the 20% mark for months, and the well of (ideally free) options for promoting it is dried up, or so it seems. I used to provide regular updates that included details about the characters and backstory, but I feel I’ve reached the point where I can’t share anything more without spoiling the novel, and I wasn’t getting much of a response anyway. One thought that’s come to mind (thanks to your writing playlist posts) is to include Youtube lyric or music video links to songs from the multiple playlists I go through when working on a project (Random Mix, Soundtracks, Classical, etc.). Has the playlist posting approach worked for you in terms of drawing attention to your project(s), and if so, would you be bothered if I adopted a similar method? And what other venues or sites would you recommend for trying to reach more readers and donors?

Sincerely,

Mark Ciccone

Hi Mark,

It’s an age-old problem to be sure. How do you attract an audience. Well to be honest there are a lot of ways. Your crowdfunding page certainly caught my attention, but really word of mouth is everything. For starters, I would update your kickstarter listing. Offer autographed copies as a perk. Collectors (like myself) love that sort of thing. We eat it up and… given how much I spent on a Lady Mechanika #1 that is autographed by the writer and artist (no I will not give a dollar amount), we’re willing to spend more on them… even if the artist is start up.

Second, I would update the kickstarter to include “advertising” as to where the funding goes. If you’ve really exhausted all other options, then you are going to need to put some money into advertising whether you like it or not. Fortunately there are plenty of advertising companies that can help you for fairly cheap. Amazon is really a great place to do it as many of their ads show up on Audible and that’s often how I find new books to read.

So I also took a look at your page as well and I don’t mean this in a negative way, but I found it wanting. What I mean by that is that you have no footer, nowhere on there other than your Amazon page where people can interact with you or get updates other than WordPress… This is very important because… most readers typically don’t have wordpress accounts. They come here for the articles, but most won’t be writing anything.

Go into wordpress, got to ‘My Site> Configure> Sharing.

If yours doesn’t look like mine (yes I know, I need to update the Linkedin one), then you’re not doing everything you can to advertise your work or yourself. Sign up for an account on each of these and spend a few hours here and there reaching out to people. Comment on the things they post, off your opinion, and/or offer help (like I do here). This is how you build a community and gain yourself a following.

A few weeks of doing this gained me a few thousand followers and a considerable boost in traffic to my pages.

The playlist has definitely gained me a following, mostly of writers looking for something to listen to while they brainstorm, but it has helped. This isn’t a method I have copyrighted or anything, so if you feel like it could help you, go for it.

Anyway, I hope some of these ideas help, but let’s open it up to the community;

Readers, do you have any ideas that could help Mark spread word of his new book??

Thanks,
Jim

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 multiple 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

August 20, 2021 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Beta Readers, The Do’s and Don’ts #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Hey Jim,

I swear I don’t stalk your blog. It is just refreshing to see a familiar face everyday. (Someone that posts consistently)

Maybe you have done a segment on this..

What is your take on Beta readers? How do you find a Beta reader that A. will actually suffer through a horribly rough draft B. Wont steal your shit and C. Will provide useful and honest feedback on your writing style, story line, and character development?

BTW. I am not a metal fan by any means. Nor a country fan. Like I said before, I find vocals to be extremely distracting. I stick with classical relaxation music in the background and currently would appreciate a good “muse” in the form of music but have yet to find that medium. I can, however, appreciate your insight on the subject. Thank you for sharing your playlist.

Cheers.

Dacia

Hi Dacia,

Haven’t seen you comment on my posts in a while. Was starting to wonder what happened. Hmm… looks like we’ve got a multi-question one today… all right. Let’s take it one at a time.

First off, stalk away. I don’t mind frequent visitors, it helps my blog more than anything!

So beta readers… it’s tough. It’s really tough. First thing I would do when looking for a beta reader is document every exchange you have back and forth with someone if you don’t know them. Goodreads usually has some pretty trustworthy beta reading circles, but you still need to be careful. I tried to go through their a while back and honestly, got a bull assessment of my first chapter from someone who claimed to be a ‘speed reader.’ They wanted money to review the rest… and not a small amount either.

Look into the person you’re considering working with. Do they have other publications with reviews? What is their level of education? Are they an active member of whatever community you’re searching through? Don’t be afraid to ask questions and turn down offers if something doesn’t seem right.

The second thing you can do is try to forge a relationship on here with someone. That’s pretty much how I did it. I’d also recommend finding more than one person, two sets of eyes, one biased (yours), one not (a beta), are still likely to miss a few things. Multiple beta readers however will help you out a lot. So… I guess I’m volunteering if you’d be interested in doing an exchange?

That’s usually the best way to do it. An exchange with another author anxious to find someone who’s willing to sift through their work as well. Otherwise you’ll likely shell out $100-$300 for a college student to do the work… which is fine, they really do a great job, but when you’re spending $300 (min.) for a cover, $100 a piece for each ISBN needed, and $35 for the copyright fee, it adds up fast.

One piece of advice I’d give you before reaching out to people you don’t know is to REGISTER YOUR WORK! That’s right, get it copyrighted. It’s technically already copyrighted the moment you put pen to paper, but registering it guarantees that you’ll be protected and able to furnish proof against another writer who hijacks your book.

Finally, inspirational pieces with no vocals… that is a tough one.
I’m afraid I don’t work with much in the way of instrumental music, but I do have a few selections…

Since you mentioned classical, might I recommend checking into music from the Baroque era? I tend to like that a lot more with my writing. I don’t have any real selections for you as I wouldn’t be able to identify them. I usually just switch on baroque stations on spotify.

Anyway, hope this helps!

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

August 19, 2021 + advice, Fiction, Non Fiction, Opinion, Politics, Uncategorized, Writing

The Devil in the Pages: How to Play Devils Advocate #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Hi Jim,

I saw that you give out writing advice and was hoping you could help me. See I’m taking my first shot at writing a political satire story, but am finding it increasingly difficult to write from the perspective of someone I don’t agree with. It’s getting very hard to write without sounding superficial or condescending. Do you have any suggestions?

Best-
Maria

Hi Maria,

That’s a good question and one that isn’t always easy to answer. As human beings, we all have preferences, beliefs, biases, and worldviews that are specific to us. Many of our core values and beliefs are deeply integrated into our personalities and often very difficult, if not impossible to change.

So with that in mind, how do we work through them. How do we betray our own senses and beliefs and become the devil’s advocate?
The way I see it, there are a few ways…
1. Get involved in debates. On my private facebook profile, I’ll often post a political question or issue based either on current events or something I’m writing about. My friends list is full of people from both sides of the isle… some more mature than others. Most of the time, I’ll get a couple of troll posts, as well as childish name-calling going back ad forth. However, then one or two people who are looking to have a ‘drop the mic’ moment come in with an intellectually sound, cited argument. Reading through these arguments can often give you the answer you’re looking for whether you agree with them or not.

2. Have someone else write it. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with collaborating on a work with another person if you’re completely stumped. Just make sure that this other person has the maturity to post their views without going into attack mode.

3. Do a little soul-searching. This is something I typically do when I debate points. I come up with my argument and then carefully examine it to see where someone could poke a hole in it or use a piece of their own logic to refute it. In that way, you start thinking as they do and very quickly, you can form a cohesive argument.

Remember though, just because you’re writing it, doesn’t mean you agree with it. There is such a thing as playing devil advocate and its a perfectly reasonable thing to do in order to get a point across.

I remember back in college, trying to write a short story from a German soldier’s perspective during WW2. My goal was to have the soldier condemn what Hitler did, but defend WHY Germany let him come to power in the first place. This soldier wasn’t supposed to be the moral or ethical right, but I at least wanted people to know that perspective in order to gain a bigger understanding of the context behind World War 2. In the end, the soldier would be executed following the Nuremberg trials.

Well… I live in the United States. All of the known Nazis have long since been deported. Any that could still be left are likely either dead or in hiding. However… their children and grandchildren remained. Most didn’t want to talk about it, but a few were able to give me some insight into the how and why that we aren’t really taught in school.

So I was able to find some information that helped me make a decent argument.

Anyway, I hope this helps.
Readers, what do you think? Do you have any advice for Maria? Let her know in the comments.

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 multiple 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

August 19, 2021 + Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

I’m sorry, I miss the 80s. Growing up in the late 80s and watching the slow decline into the early 90s was really amongst the greatest time to be a kid. Nintendo NES was everywhere, Sega Masters was where it wasn’t. Free range parenting was a thing, the internet was barely a dream in the eyes of computer engineers, people actually went out and talked to others, MTV still actually had dealt in music instead of racist undertones, and THIS was the type of stuff you heard of the radio. The fall of music with the Boy Band Wars wasn’t even seen coming yet.

When to Listen: Whirlwind love scenes. This song works so perfectly for them, but I’d recommend putting it on your general playlist as well. Its an upbeat song, a style of which we don’t see anymore… heck EVEN TIFFANY doesn’t sound like this anymore. She’s lost her hair metal growl. So sit back, close your eyes, and picture torn jeans, studded leather, big hair, and incredibly cheesy rotoscoped cartoons!
… God I miss those days!

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

August 19, 2021 + Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Yeah it should be no surprise to anyone when I add this song to the list. Written for Lord of the Rings, this is perhaps the best rendition of it that I’ve ever heard. Peter Hollens is an amazing vocalist who knows how to respect the material he’s working with.

When to Listen: … … well to be honest, I’m not really sure. I used it when one of my characters made a fateful decision; SPOILER ALERT!!! When Adalyn used the last drop of her angelic powers to set off fireworks at the end of Divinity, thus completing her transformation from an angel into a human and when Toby revealed to Lia’na that he’d used the last of his powers and magic was then and forever gone from the world.

So I guess use this if and when writing a story about the end of the mystical/fantastic and beginning of the modern time when such things were no longer relevant?

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

August 19, 2021 + fantasy, Fire Emblem, Geek, Opinion, Uncategorized, video games

Fire Emblem: Tharja vs. Rhajat #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Hello all!!

I know it’s been a while and yes, Raiya is coming along nicely. I’m hoping to get back to once-a-week pieces for now and become far more prolific again once Raiya is complete.

So this will be the first piece…

Tharja vs. Rhajat…

Let’s take a look at these two, shall we?

Hey WTF!!!??? They’re just recycled characters! Same voices, same personalities, everything!

Okay… a little background; Tharja was a big fan favorite from Fire Emblem: Awakening. Most people said that she was likely the most lore-friendly person for the Avatar to marry because… Because insane darkness and a rather alarming obsession equals marriage material? To everyone who condemned their avatar to a life with her, don’t believe the suicide note when he’s found carved up in the ice box!

Yeesh…

Okay, look honestly she’s an entertaining character in her own right. She’s dark, gloomy, and pretty much what you would expect from someone who dabbles in the dark arts. So I can understand why she is so popular.

Then Fire Emblem Fates comes out… I highly recommend reading my review of the game. It was definitely one of the more interesting offerings from the Fire Emblem series.

As the game progresses, we start noticing some characters showing up that look suspiciously like characters from Awakening. Some are the guardians of the Noble Families while others are children born of the party. One character suspiciously stands out from the rest; Hayato’s daughter, Rhajat. I usually pair Hayato with Orochi one because its lore-friendly, and two because Rhajat gets a nice MAG modifier without taking much in the way of hits to her stats.

So let’ s address the elephant in the room… Yes, Rhajat is a recycled Tharja almost entirely. Heck, the name ‘Rhajat’ is simply Tharja with the ‘T’ and ‘r’ moved. She has the same voice actress, same overly obsessed personality with the avatar, same dark abilities and ideas, same love of curses… etc.

Understandably the reaction to this has ranged from ‘meh’ to ‘Rhajat sucks! She’s nowhere near as good as Tharja.’ It honestly does seem a little lazy, even if it is an homage to the previous game.

The being said, does Rhajat deserve all the scorn she’s been getting? Let’s look at the two characters.

Tharja joins you in the ‘Mad King’ questline because… apparently she’s got nothing better to do and doesn’t like who she’s fighting for. There’s no real reason to it other than the fact that the Shepherds are willing to blindly trust her. After she joins the party, she quickly becomes obsessed with the avatar and proceeds to begin stalking him. She even refers to him as ‘my love’. Much to the annoyance and discomfort of the avatar, who proceeds to fake an illness to get away from her.

There are at least two more dialogues with Tharja, both of which are extremely uncomfortable. They include the avatar trying to get Tharja to stop acting weird and it completely backfiring on him. She begins trying to act ‘proper’ and ‘like a normal girl.’ She does eventually save him from a fever where he collapses… though I’m not convinced it wasn’t the result of a curse.

If you do go all the way to S class, she threatens to murder you in your sleep if you back out. Needless to say, I usually marry her off to Libra. It’s far more entertaining.

She doesn’t really treat her daughter better either. The girl seems extremely timid most of the time, and schizophrenic the rest. She was apparently too wrapped up in her work to teach her daughter anything and only used her for experiments. Not exactly the most likable person. So why is she so popular?

Okay, no! No no no no no no! We’re not going down that road again! It made a helluva lot more sense with Camillia. Tharja maybe be skimpily dressed, but this is not the main reason she’s popular. Give geeks a little more credit.

The truth is that she’s actually very powerful, and her dark persona is something that many geeks can honestly relate to. A lot of people find the way she talks and character reactions entertaining, which is why she’s gained a following.

So what about Rhajat?

Oh God, she’s pretty much the same character, but a cheap imitation? Christ… this is going to be bad… let’s go through her character, shall we?

Rhajat joins your party in Birthright and Revelations if you pair her father, Hayato with someone. Her hair color follows the mother. So for me, it’s usually purple. Following rescuing her in her paralogue, she joins the avatar’s army… and yes, you guessed it, she’s inexplicably obsessed with him. Inexplicably… at least at first.

She reveals that she’s watching over the avatar and, in a sense, protecting him because he saved her. The avatar replies that she would have done the same for him, assuming that her rescue in the paralogue is what she’s referring to. To this, she seems oddly disappointed. She hints towards their fates being intertwined and then leaves.

In her next dialogue, she reveals the real reason why she’s so obsessed with the avatar… Apparently the paralogue wasn’t the first time he saved her. They’d met before in the deeprealms when she was a little girl and the avatar caught her when she almost ran off a cliff… wait… we actually get a VALID explanation??? What the hell is this? It’s not just random obsession or anything like that. Rhajat actually has a decent and… almost justified reasoning for her creepy behavior.

In fact, when the avatar realizes how much of an impact he’s had on her life, he apologizes!

So if you go all the way to S class… Rhajat offers to cease her stalking and leave the avatar alone. She doesn’t want to be a nuisance and though it upsets her, she’s willing to make a break. At that point, she reveals that the avatar has been her hero the entire time for everything he’s done for her.

The avatar is taken aback… and reveals that he actually enjoys her attention to the point where he actually stalked her every now and then. They agree that they have a connection and that they love each other.

It’s not… a perfect match, but it’s as fluid a romance as you can get in Fire Emblem.

Okay… so after putting the two characters together… clearly they are not identical personality-wise. Rhajat’s reasoning is far more fleshed out, and she’s definitely the most dynamic character.

So why then is she the more hated of the two?

Well… in the current trend of story telling, people seem to gravitate more towards antiheroes and complex villains. Tharja can really fit either role. Her psychotic personality and devil may care attitude is definitely something that a lot of fantasy fans can get into.

Rhajat honestly comes off as more of an obsessed fangirl than anything evil that is simply part of an alliance of convenience. The big issue though is more likely the fact that she’s a recycled character, which many people object to because it’s lazy. (Especially when you typically shell out $40 for each title.)

So with all this in mind, which is the superior character?

Well bust out the pitchforks because honestly, it’s Rhajat. She’s more dynamic, less awkward, and honestly her story has a lot more charm to it than Tharja’s. Oh and in case your wondering, yes I do have her marry the Avatar. In fact, she is one of my top choices;

Scarlet (Birthright only)
Rhajat
Elise (See her actions in Birthright to understand why.)
Caeldori
Azura

Anyway, let me know in the comments what you think. Tharja or Rhajat?

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

August 19, 2021 + Book, fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, literature, Religion, Writing

Destiny: Divinity’s Finale, Book 4, Chapter 4 #Fantasy #Historical #Fiction

by Jim

Melisande ran to the forecastle and leaned over the side. It was getting dark and most of the crew wasn’t paying attention to her. She suddenly began to vomit as tears fell out of her eyes. Her lungs ached as she tried to draw breath and regain her composure. She continued to lean over the side until her lung cooperated. When she was finally able to take in breath again, she cried out, “Why?”

A voice appeared behind her, “I asked myself that very same question long ago.”

She turned to see Baltazar looking at her sympathetically, “When I was told that I was the bastard of a family that had caused unspeakable suffering, imprisoned thousands, and even laid waste to the city of Rome.”

“How did you handle it?” She asked with tears in her eyes. “How could you?”

Baltazar pointed at her, “The same way you are. I was angry, sad, and confused all at the same time. Every fiber of my being hurt and I couldn’t escape what my blood line was responsible for. That’s when I abandoned everything I knew and took to the sea.”

“I don’t think I have the choice to run away.” Melisande said sorrowfully.

“Says who?” Baltazar asked. “You belong here with us, if running away is what you want to do, the Black Vengeance will be your chariot to the ends of the Earth. If you want to cast this aside, then stay with us and we’ll go back to plundering.”

She forced an appreciative smile, “No, Baltazar, it’s not that simple. Legion will find me eventually. He almost took me at my family’s home. If it weren’t for you…”

She lowered her eyes. Baltazar put his arms around her and held on, “You’re welcome.”

“Baltazar,” she said slowly, “I… I need you. I would never have made it this far without you. I know I’ve been rough around the edges, but now I am asking for your help. I need you at my side. You helped pull me back from the edge once… I may need you to do it again.”

Baltazar’s heart skipped a beat, “My lady… my ship, my sword… and my heart, are at your disposal… if you can do one thing for me.”

“What is that?” She asked.

He smiled, “Tell me, who are you.”

“Huh,” she asked in a confused tone, “what are you talking about?”

“Do you remember what I told you?” He asked, “What you are…”

She nodded, “… is not nearly as important as who you are, I remember.”

“Right,” he replied, “well now you know what you are. You know where you come from and you know about your past… so the question is, now that you know what you are, who are you?”

“I…” She struggled to find the words as her mind raced to answer the question. “I am Aralyn Patrisi, I am the descendant of a great angel, I am the heir to a good family, but I am also my own person… and I care for you deeply… Baltazar De La Fuente!”

Without another word, she raised her face to his and kissed him. Baltazar was surprised by this, but he closed his eyes and held her as they kissed. The eyes of the entire crew watched the scene play out on the forecastle. Cheers and applauding could be heard from the masts and deck.

Papi and Lailah exited the cabin and saw the two of them. Lailah remained emotionless, but Papi had tears in his eyes, “My little girl is grown up.”

When the two of them released one another, Baltazar smiled, “I care for you too, Melis… um…”

She smiled, “Aralyn… Aralyn is my birth name, please call me by it.”

Baltazar nodded, “As you wish… Aralyn Patrisi.”

Aralyn smiled as Baltazar stepped away from her to call to Morgan on the aft castle, “Morgan, call all hands on deck, we have much to discuss.”

Morgan nodded and rang the bell next to the helm, signaling all men to report on deck. Sounds of clamoring footsteps could be heard from below as the men scrambled to the deck. They grouped together on the main deck and turned to face the forecastle when they noticed that Baltazar was standing there.

As soon as all of the men were assembled, Baltazar addressed them, “Brave crew of the Black Vengeance, our mission is over. Melisande has discovered her past and thus her true identity has revealed itself. Three cheers for Aralyn Patrisi, the finest cabin server and healer this ship has ever seen.”

The crew responded in unison, “Huzzah… huzzah… huzzah!”

Aralyn smiled and bowed to the men appreciatively. As they finished, Gilles spoke up, “So how be it then Captain? Are we going back to pillaging and plundering Spanish ships?”

Baltazar sighed, “I wish I could say yes, as I’ve already asked so much of you men, and you have delivered in every way.”

He lowered his eyes, “Men… there is an evil out there hunting Aralyn. It threatens to destroy everything we hold dear. If it finds her, the effects will spell doom for us all. At this moment, the only thing standing between that evil, and her, is us.”

The crew looked at each other with worried expressions. Baltazar saw it and nodded, “This is a very heavy burden for any man to bear… too heavy for me to order it. Therefore, I once again offer you a way out. Any man, who does not wish to stay, will be set ashore in Ravenna and can make their way home from there. I won’t blame anyone who chooses to leave.”

“Make a liar out of me, will ye Captain?” One of the men yelled. “I told ye that I’d follow Captain La Fuente to hell and back… looks like we be putting that to the test!”

Gilles nodded, “Aye, no one knows how to handle the ship like I do, I’m staying on too.”

The men cheered as they all agreed unanimously that they weren’t going anywhere. Aralyn had tears in her eyes as she listened to them, “I don’t know what to say… thank you all!”

“Half of us wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for you,” Morgan yelled back.

“Hail young Aralyn.” Another man called, “We’ll follow Captain Del La Fuente into the gates of hell, and follow her back out!”

Aralyn smiled and laughed as she realized that, although she had lost her birth family, she had found a new one in this gang of ruffians. She realized that at long last she had found what she was truly looking for.

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

Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

August 18, 2021 + Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

It’s rare that I do two from the same band in a row, but I really do love this band. This one from Edguy’s ‘Age of the Joker’ album exemplifies the best Tobias Sammet has to offer. Fire on the Downline, give it a listen.

When to listen: General playlist. I don’t know why, but this song helps me with character creation. No reason for it, so yeah general playlist.

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

August 18, 2021 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Offsetting Off-screen Plot Points #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

I really don’t know what else to call this, but it applies to writing as well as film making. I’ve always found it quite vexing when something happens off screen like during the plot or between stories.

Too often, we see characters killed off between a movie and its sequel with little to no explanation. Usually in movies, this is done because either the actor who played the character died, or there were budgetary concerns, etc. I wouldn’t mind so much, but we see this happen in books as well. Too often there is a character or a major plot point that happens between the stories and we never get to hear the how or why.

It the book is intended to take the reader back in time to see how things got the way they did in a sort of flashback manner, that’s one thing. I get that, but too often that is not what we get. In other cases in movies as well, we see characters who solved mysteries, identified people, or came up with some new idea off-screen, and its never explained how that happened.

I love the idea of leaving some things up to the reader to figure out, but there’s a difference between pinholes and black holes. Don’t over explain, but don’t leave something in a way that it comes out of the blue with no precedence.

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 multiple 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

August 18, 2021 + anime, art, Comic, Opinion, review, TV Show

Total Drama: The Ridonculous Review #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Oh… what does one say about this little gem of Canadian programming?

Imagine pairing Jay and Silent Bob,

Chris Farley and David Spade:

Bill and Ted

part of the cast of Police Academy:

Your wise-cracking father and his tennis partner:

and

The Stars of Beauty and the Bitch:

into teams and having them race for a prize of one million dollars…

You’d have about as hilarious a show as you could come up with!

I watched Total Dram Island/Action, the show this was spun from, when it was released on the Cartoon network so many years ago. It was funny and good for a laugh… and then I decided to let my kids watch it because I was getting annoyed with the stuff they typically had on. (Seriously, there’s only so many times you can watch ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’ before it starts messing with your sanity!)

The plan backfired and my wife and I wound up watching it more than they did. Anyway, I had no idea that this show made it into a fourth or fifth season… let alone a spinoff.

Well we made it through the comical yet somewhat repetitive Total Drama series and then saw the Ridonculous Race. We’d really had enough and were ready to move on to something else, but decided to at least give the first episode a watch.

… It’s been a long time since I laughed that hard. Seriously, this is just one of those shows where once it starts, it just doesn’t stop! There is literally no relief of low point throughout the show. Whoever the writers were, they deserve a lot of credit. Creating a show that just constantly lands jokes over and over again until you’re laughing so hard that you can’t breathe… and then does it again with the next episode, cannot be easy.

Animation-wise, the show is stylized like its predecessor and somewhat basic, but I give that a pass as you can’t have it all. We weren’t going to get 3-D animation when clearly the show spent the majority of its money on writers, of which I have no complaints about.

Every team has their quirks, you wind up rooting for more then one (Unless its the skaters… did anyone really want to see them win?) and are saddened when they’re eliminated, but then there is always a team to replace them.

So honestly, if you are in need of a laugh, this show will GUARANTEED give you just what you need!!!

Here’s a little clip of one of my favorite episodes:

Enjoy and happy laughing!!!

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

August 18, 2021 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

The Ins and Outs of Publishing, A Directory of Advice. #Writing #Author #Advice

by Jim

Okay, so it looks like I’m still getting a lot of publishing questions. These are recurrent questions I get on a regular basis, and while I want to try to respond to everyone who reaches out to me, I don’t want my blog becoming redundant. So I think I’m going to repost this on a weekly basis from now on to help people navigate the publishing world. I don’t really see another way around it.

So if you have questions regarding publishing, PLEASE check below to see if any of this helps you before reaching out. I’m always happy to help, but I may have already answered your question.

Publishing is a tough road to navigate. Please check out the links below. These are previous posts I’ve made about the ins and outs of publishing. They should be of assistance in your journey:

Am I Ready To Publish? This is a must read BEFORE even considering starting the process. I can’t tell you how many authors burned bridges by not being ready.

Editing… There is a Cost That Must be Paid… or is There? You can skip this one if you’ve already had your writing edited (by someone other than you!). However, I’d still recommend reading.

Getting Published… the basics… In this post, we explore traditional publishing vs. self-publishing. Here you’ll get the pros on cons of each and the steps you need to go through in order to be successful in either.

Finally…

Copyrighting my Writing. Am I Protected? This isn’t required reading… however, if you’re concerned about plagiarism, or in the future may need to file a copyright claim, I recommend giving it a read.

Feeling overwhelmed yet? I’d be surprised if you didn’t. The only sage advice I can offer you other than the documents above is simple…

Do not give up. A million “No’s” suddenly become irrelevant if you get that one “yes”.
People will tell you that everyone and their mother wants to publish a book. You’re up against insurmountable odds and a flooded market. This is false. You’re not up against everyone and their mother. Permit me the luxury and I’ll prove this mathematically: First of all, take the entire group of people who want to get published. Now take that number and reduce it by roughly 60%. You just eliminated all the people who want to get something published, but don’t have the time, ability, drive, or inspiration to write. Next, eliminate another 20%. You’ve now taken down all the people who can put pen to paper but can’t afford the time/money to put the work into advertising and getting published. Eliminate another 10% who can’t take criticism and thus aren’t going to be able to get their writing properly edited. Now eliminate another 5% either don’t have the patience for or get discouraged by receiving a series of “No’s” from publishers.
Now take that last 5% and eliminate all of them, except you. Why? Because they’re irrelevant. You have your writing and they have there’s. Whether or not you get published and how successful you are isn’t about other people’s writing. Yes, in the end, it’s you against one person, you. Whether or not I’ll ever get to buy your book off the shelf depends on you; how much time, effort, and funds you’re willing to put into your writing. So make it good!

Let’s open it up to the floor. Readers, do you have any publishing advice for our friend here? Let her know in the comments!

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