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December 13, 2020 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Suspending Suspension of Disbelief!

Hi Jim,

I have a little problem that I was hoping you could assist me with. I’ve had quite a few people read my story and the overall criticism is that one of the characters isn’t believable. They keep saying that the way the character behaves and the things she does, don’t fit in with the story. This really bothers me as this is a story that takes place in a completely made up environment that has nothing to do with reality. Like okay, you can believe an entire planet could be a live and have a consciousness, but not believe one character because of their actions and choices they make?

If only one person had said it, that would be one thing, but a few have so now I’m starting to worry. Do you think I should change the character or leave it as is? Should I take this criticism seriously?

Thanks,
Elyssa H.

Hello Elyssa,

Awesome name, by the way. I may wind up using that for one of my characters. I actually try to take most criticism seriously. The obvious exceptions are trolls who simply say that ‘this sucks’ or ‘I think you’re stupid’. Things that have no substance are basically best left ignored.

However that doesn’t seem to be the case here. I would definitely take what they say into consideration, but not let that be the be all, end all of what you do with the character. Outside criticism is vital, especially if you plan to have your work published. You want someone who’s going to rip it apart. However the final say is yours, you need to take a step back and look at the character and see if everything fits.

Now that that’s out of the way… I want to address your other comments. “Like okay, you can believe an entire planet could be a live and have a consciousness, but not believe one character because of their actions and choices they make? ”

Actually, yes. This is what’s called a suspension of disbelief. Like it or not, readers are always going to apply some level of real-world logic, even in the most fantastical of environments. We’ve all done it, and we’re all going to do it. Like it or not, this is something that all writers have to contend with.

So what’s the best way to combat this problem? Well… I’d say the first thing to do is create a set of rules early on in your writing. If there are any real world attributes, make them known through the story, cultural differences that could explain, and by default, make your character’s behaviors more believable, explore them. Most readers are really good at following a path with little guidance, but you still need to leave some bread crumbs for them to pick up on.

This is the folly of your comparison. A reader could actually take issue with a character’s choices and development in a story where an actual planet is a character because maybe you explained the planet better. Maybe the back story you put in place actually explains better how something like that can exist. I think this is an area that you may want to really go back and re-examine, but let’s open it up.

Readers, what do you think? Is this an area that Elyssa should look at a little more closely? Is the criticisms of her readers something she should worry about, or should she simply disregard them because its her story? 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 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

December 13, 2020 + Book, fantasy, Fiction, News, Uncategorized, Writing

A Drakin Question!? (SPOILERS!)

by Jim

Hi Jim,

I haven”t quite finished reading Drakin, but was really curious about something. First of all, congratulations on getting your book published, that’s quite an accomplishment! I really liked your character, Jagger. It really seems like you spent a lot more of time and focus on Raiya, but Jagger seems like the nice guy who would give you the shirt off his back. I can’t imagine that being common in a world where humanity is facing extinction.

I’m not sure if this is intentional or not, and I doubt you’ll give me a definitive answer, but I was kind of wondering, could Raiya and Jagger have a child, based on what we know about Raiya’s biology?

Thanks,
Laura

Hi Laura,

Well, looks like we’re getting into shipping territory. That’s always fun!

Good question, so Raiya’s biology is fairly unique as is noted in the story. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, so I’m going to try to keep this as non-descriptive as possible. I’m likely going to disappoint you here… though I don’t mention it in the story, the pseudo-microbiology I used to create her (and turn this into a partial scifi novel), would make it highly unlikely that she’d be able to conceive a child. Though anatomically she’s compatible with a human being, her biology isn’t.

Sorry! 😦

Glad you’re enjoying it and if you still do once you’ve finished, please leave me a review! It helps me out big time!

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 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

December 12, 2020 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Dimensional, One Dimensional Characters

by Jim

I’ve heard, and said a lot of negative things about the writing of characters that are too one-dimensional. I don’t want it to seem like I’m against such a character, I’m not. There are a lot of great characters out there that are lacking in dimension.

Perhaps one of the most famous examples would be the character Javert from Les Miserables. In fact, it is his one dimensional personality that lands him the position of the villain, while a far more dynamic thief, fugitive, and fraudster becomes the hero.

He’s not so much the villain because he’s a bad person. It is more so because he comes off as indifferent. However I don’t necessarily think that this is necessarily his own fault. What little we know of his life and background has left him with a very rudimentary view of right and wrong. He has a very strict adherence to the law, giving no leeway for interpretation, leniency, or apathy…. He has an extremely unwavering faith in the morality and overall ‘correctness’ of the law.

And we’ve seen where such staunch adherence to it leads to…

(How mad must the officer have been after the judge turned the case into a comedy routine.)

Now this is an example of a one-dimensional character. He has a basic view of right and wrong which, like iron is solid, but when you apply enough pressure, it becomes brittle and breaks. That’s what happens with Javert his interpretation of right and wrong was challenge where he was put into the position of having to do wrong to do right. This is something that, in his world view, shouldn’t be possible. Unable to cope with his reality being shattered and either unable or unwilling to change with it, he kills himself.

This is an example of a one dimensional character done correctly. We not only see the dangers of having such a view of the world and/or personality, but we also what can happen when they are so rigid. It’s actually a fascinating character study to do.

So is there a place for one-dimensional characters? Absolutely there is and they can be written very well. The problem is when a character is put on screen for one purpose and isn’t really given any justification as to why they exist the way they do or how it came to be that way. There’s no issue with characters being one-dimensional, as long as there is something in them that we can understand and view as really happening.

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

December 12, 2020 + Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist

by Jim

Ah an oldie, but one from I musician I loved back in college… and still do! I don’t think you can qualify him as metal, but who cares? Beyond his music, he’s also wonderful to his fans. I had the opportunity to see him live and then waited two hours in line to meet him after the show. It took two hours because he insisted on talking to every single one of his fans. He seemed genuinely interested in everything each one had to say and answered every question asked. That’s not something you see much these days.

When to Listen: Writing your ending. This is a pretty perfect endsong, especially with the disneyesque end of the song.

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

December 11, 2020 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Writing Time Travel: What Works and What Makes No Sense.

by Jim

It’s said that if you bend but one shade of grass, you run the risk of altering history…

I see a lot of stories, shows, and movies dealing in time travel, how it ‘works’ and the consequences of using it. I usually try not to write about it in my stories for a few reasons… One, time travel is a headache to figure out. When you try to get into the ideas of time theory, temporal physics, and paradoxes… You could spend years just trying to get that right… and still fail miserably. Let’s go through some of the established theories we’ve seen in science fiction and try to dissect why they may or may not work.

Keeping in mind, these are my own theories based on my understanding of physics and logic… so please don’t think that I’m trying to state anything as scientific fact, I’m admittedly not an expert. If we any physicists here, please feel free to speak up! I’d love some insights.

Theory 1: Destructive Paradoxes and “force infinity time quakes”

I’ve seen this theory pop up a few times, but the first place I saw it was in the not-so-well-liked movie Millennium (1989).
The theory stands that if you travel through time and create an irreconcilable paradox, time itself will rip apart at the point in time most affected by it. However future and past areas are not affected.
Essentially “If you build a time machine to go back and kill Hitler and successfully pull it off, then you have no reason to build a time machine in the future and if you had no reason to build it, then Hitler would come to power… so what happens?”
Honestly, I shake my head at this one. I can’t honestly believe that the universe would be that poorly run that it could so easily destroy itself. Plus this goes against pretty much every other time travel theory out there. However the cyclical question is an interesting one to cover, so we’ll revisit it in another theory.

Theory 2: Non-Linear Time

The next theory is one that, again I do not subscribe to, but is interesting. Back to the Future covered this one in some detail. In essence, time isn’t a straight line at all and has to be looked at 4th dimensionally. Once time travel takes place, the flow of time follows the travelers, in essence, the stream of time looks a lot more like this:

Essentially any future events cease to exist the moment time travel takes place and are replaced with whatever changes the traveler makes. Now this of course calls into question how time works with multiple travelers… one can imagine that this diagram would look a lot more messy and would also call into question how multiple changes would be calculated out. Terminator also sort of touches on this one… but… let’s not get into the Terminator timeline, that’s another post in and of itself.

Theory 3: Fluidic Time

This is a theory that a close friend wrote in a middle school paper. In essence time is likened to a strong river. If you throw a stone in it, you can divert its course, but it will make its way back to its original path naturally. To back to the Hitler theory, if you go back in time and kill Hitler, one of his subordinates would take over and while certain events would be altered, time would proceed as it had before.

… As you can imagine, I found this theory to be a little more far-fetched than some of the others. To, it just doesn’t make sense. This theory is directly opposed to the idea that if you change a single event, you’ve altered history. I also can’t buy into it, that killing someone so significant would have so little effect on the timeline. If you murder a homeless man, who’s to say you didn’t just kill the father of the next nobel price winner who would create a new form of travel or new form of energy that would revolutionize the world.

Theory 4: Divergent Timelines

This is actually the theory that I subscribe to and the recent Star Trek movies seem to also promote. Travelling back in time and making changes in the past doesn’t destroy or alter the future, but in essence creates an alternate timeline.

A time traveler cannot go back in time, kill Hitler, and alter the timeline in the present. In essence, after killing Hitler, he would never be able to return to his native time. Rather, he would be forever trapped in an alternate time where another version of him would likely exist. In essence, if you wanted to go back and save the life of someone you cared about, you would never be able to. You could go back and change events, but that person you saved wouldn’t be ‘your’ that person. Because the you in that alternate time would reap the rewards of your actions. The person you knew is still dead in your own timeline.

So these are the most prominent theories of time travel that I have seen. However if there are others that you believe are more likely, please let me know, and please leave a comment regarding your thoughts on my assessments of the theories above.

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

December 11, 2020 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Being Preachy Doesn’t Sell.

by Jim

Hi Jim!

I’m hoping you can help me here as a lot of your posts have been about political ideologies making bad stories.

I want to write a fictional story with a moral and a political message, but upon rereading what I’ve already written, I’m worried about it being too preachy. Do you have any advice for me?

Thanks!
Leah

Hi Leah,

Good question. Well to be honest, you’re already half way home. That you re-read your work and recognized this problem means that you’ve already got the tools to fix it.

First of all, this is just advice. Don’t think that you’re under obligation to heed any of the pointers I give you. This is YOUR story and if you like it the way it is, then you don’t owe anyone an explanation… you just have to worry about how it sells. That said, since you yourself are saying that it sounds too preachy, my guess is that you’re not entirely satisfied with it.

This is something that has been plaguing writers a lot recently, not only in books, but in movies, comics, as well as other mediums. Too often, they fall into the same trap, chasing the proverbial tail in the pursuit of the holy grail of diversity. They either hire politically motivated people who… aren’t always the best writers, or they pressure the good writers they have to the point where the focus is on political agenda over telling a good story. The entertainment aspect, which is what the industry they’re in is supposed to be about, takes a back seat. Audiences notice this, which is why so many of the movies that have gotten critical acclaim have suffered so badly at the box office.

This is especially damaging when you factor in political fatigue and a greater desire among audiences for escapism. When their favorite books, movies, sporting events, and even commercials are becoming sacrificial lambs on the alter of political narrative, they tend to clench their wallets even tighter, hoping for something that will allow them to get away from it all… even if the narrative is something they agree with.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a political agenda in your work, but if you’re in an industry where the expectation is that you’re supposed to entertain, than the message has to come secondary.

In my opinion, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about putting a political message in an entertainment piece. Let’s look at both, shall we?

The Wrong Way:

Presenting a character with a problem either similar to or identical to the one you want to present. Naming exact people in political office, etc. Presenting one side of the argument, put into context who’s right and who is wrong. The writer is basically spoon-feeding how a reader is supposed to think and paints everyone who doesn’t view things that way as evil.

The Right Way:

Create a hypothetical situation that is very similar to the one you want to address, or use fictional characters that are similar in nature. Show the good and the bad, but give the reasons for both. A good example of this would be the old comics that Stan Lee wrote. The original X-Men were supposed to be a narrative on the Holocaust and racism. However, he didn’t paint the people who wanted mutants to have to register and be persecuted necessarily as evil. He presented their argument as well; mutants could be dangerous, we see it. There is a reason to fear many of them.

So the moral here is to not try to control how your reader thinks. Present both arguments, as well as their context. Let the reader decide for themselves who is the moral right.
A good analogy would be a college classroom. The more engaging classes are when a professor presents a topic for debate and allows the students to weigh out both sides to come to a final moral decision.
The less engaging classes are when the professor puts everything into context, and essentially shuts down any chance of debate by saying that one side is right, while the other is not. The people on the ‘wrong’ side are understandably either going to shut down or get extremely defensive, and nothing is gained. Nothing positive is likely to be gained from that class and the students won’t remember it fondly.

So Leah, what to do with your story… I think that the best thing might be to scrap your first draft and start over. It might be easier than trying to go back and change everything wrong with the first draft if it’s that bad. When you start re-writing or editing remember, tell you story first, and make the political narrative secondary. You have to be able to tell a coherent, enjoyable story before you start worrying about a political message. Otherwise you’re going to disenfranchise your readers. Flesh out all the characters, including the ones you don’t agree with. Put yourself in their shoes and think about why they may have arrived at their conclusions of what is ‘right’.

Let your narrative flow through the story and trust your readers to have the intelligence to get the message you’re trying to convey. If you write a good story, there should be no need to come out and specifically tell them which side is right and which is wrong.

Anyway, I hope this helps! Feel free to email me if you need more help.

Readers, what do you think? Do you have any additional advice for Leah? 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

December 11, 2020 + 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

December 10, 2020 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Expert Consulting on Fantasy?

by Jim

Hi Jim,

I have a question maybe you can help with. I’m trying to write a fantasy novel dealing with biological warfare, but I don’t have a lot of scientific or medical knowledge. I don’t want it to sound like I have no idea what I’m talking about, but I want to try to explain the mechanics of how certain things work in the book.

Example: I want to explain how a biological disease could, in theory, transform a person’s cells. I’m not sure what to do here short of getting a degree in biology.

Thanks,

Mason

Hi Mason,

Thanks for reaching out. I believe what you’re trying to practice is a little something called ‘psuedo science’. It’s not always super important that it actually makes perfect sense, as most readers won’t care.

That being said, if you’re hoping to cater to an audience that is more knowledgeable on the subject, I would say that you may want to reach out to an outside source. When I wrote Drakin, I wanted to explain how a Raiya’s biological makeup was physically possible… or at least make it sound like it could be possible under the right set of circumstances. How could someone exist with discolored hair, horns, scales, and reptilian eyes in our world:

Fortunately, my network includes people in the healthcare industry, including a couple of microbiologists. I was able to give them a couple of hypotheticals surrounding my ideas and see if it at least sounded feasible. They gave me their feedback and I worked around it.

So the best advice I can give you here is to try and locate someone with an expertise in the field. If you can’t find the answers you need through your own personal research, then reaching out to an expert in the field would be the next move.

Readers, what do you think? Do you know of any other options Mason has? Let him 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

December 10, 2020 + Heavy Metal, Inspiration, Metal, Music, Uncategorized, Writing

From My Writing Playlist

by Jim

Okay, I love Hammerfall, but this version is too good to ignore.

When to Listen: The primary struggle of the hero. Listen to this when your hero is coming face to face with their biggest issue. This does not necessarily mean the final fight. This could be an internal – emotional struggle that the hero most deal with.

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

December 10, 2020 + Book, fantasy, Fiction, News, Uncategorized, Writing

Drakin, An Empire of Ashes Sample Chapter #Writing #Fantasy #SciFi

by Jim

Synopsis:

Two hundred years have passed, and the Red War has become a distant memory for most. Dragons and humans now live together in peace… but one powerful woman who has been deranged by her own history unleashes her vengeance on a helpless population.

Now, the world’s only hope for survival rests with Kaori, a naïve and wayward princess of the Eastern Empire. Having been disillusioned with her mother’s rule, she discovers a dark secret about her family that will change the course of history forever. She soon crosses paths with Nayeli and Joaquim, a pair of rogues living within her borders.

Their fight for survival takes an unexpected turn as a shadow of from the past reveals that the situation is more dangerous than they know. The fate of billions of lives rests on these three unlikely companions putting aside their differences to stand against the world.

DRAKIN: An Empire of Ashes

Chapter 1

So few of us left… No matter where we go, no matter how far we run… death always follows. The fires of Old London burned brightly in the distance. They engulfed the buildings in a veil of yellow and orange. They were miles away, but their smoke choked out the stars in the night sky. A dim orange hue added a sinister touch. The pungent odor from the decaying corpses added to the dark scene.Nayeli could hear the crackle of the massive flame like a million pieces of paper being crumpled in the distance. She ignored it and scraped through the rubble, looking for something, anything of value that could be traded for food or supplies. Bodies of dragons, EastCon, and Imperial soldiers littered the ruins. Many of them had been there for years.You would think that with all these bodies, at least one bolt pistol would have been overlooked! Nayeli was familiar with the scene, she’d lived in that horror for years in almost every city along the outskirts of the Imperial Territory. This was the fate of those who dared oppose the Eastern Empire.She kept her head close to the ground as she quickly turned over another body. A relieved sigh escaped her lips as she looked at his belt, “Yes!”Her eyes flared as they focused on a black holster that had been hidden under the fallen soldier’s hip. Unlike the others she’d seen that day, this holster wasn’t empty.Nayeli’s hands shook as she quickly unsnapped the flap that was holding the bolt pistol in place. She paused as a light flashed in the corner of her eye. A massive silhouette loomed in the distance, letting off a menacing hum. Her spine stiffened as a feeling of dread overtook her. An Imperial Hunter-killer… Shit, I need to get out of here.Her left hand wrapped around the pistol and pulled it from its holster. She had no time to check out her prize. The distant hum grew louder as the silhouette approached. She quickly hid the gun under her filthy red cloak and dove behind some rubble as the patrol ship passed overhead. A blue energy beam carefully scanned each piece of rubble.Nayeli pressed herself against the remains of a concrete wall. Like everything else in the area, it was covered in black soot. Small metal pipes protruded from the sides. Where ever it came from, something powerful must have dislodged it.As the hunter-killer passed overhead, her hand clenched her own gun as she held her breath. The ground shook, dislodging small pieces of rock and dust, sending them flying. Her lungs began to ache, but she refused to breathe as she waited.She pressed her back hard against the rough concrete and waited for fate to pass its judgment. If the hunter-killer found her, it was all over. There was no way to escape one of these things. They were fast, maneuverable, and almost completely impervious to ground attack. The curved armor covering the thrusters made shooting it down a difficult task.The ship cruised overhead as though it was ignoring her completely. The debris had blocked her from its field of vision. She was safe for the moment.Her lungs felt like they were about to explode when she finally released her breath. She pulled the dead soldier’s pistol from under her cloak. Though filthy, it looked intact. She pressed the safety in and waited to see what happened. Come on… give me something.The lights on the side flickered off and on a few times. It took a moment for the indicator on the side to come to life. The meter rose out of the red, passed through the yellow bar and stopped with barely a sliver of green illuminated. Yes, plenty of power left!She carefully inspected the markings, using the little rays light that peeked over the concrete, “Mauser T-21… with half a cartridge left. Not a bad piece…”Guns had been a valuable commodity for dissidents since the UPW was forced to withdraw from Europe. If anyone had any hopes of survival, they carried one, but that’s not why Nayeli was looking for it.The right buyer would pay handsomely for a gun. Even a small pistol like the Mauser was worth a small fortune. She quickly returned it to her pocket and focused her situation.The hunter-killer she’d seen in the distance was now passing over another large piece of debris. The sophisticated trackers could sense even the slightest movement from the ground. Even something as gentle as a heartbeat could give someone away.The sleek, black, cone-shaped vehicle passed quietly over the rubble. The blue thrusters glowed as they held the craft a few hundred feet off the ground.Scree! Scree! Scree!“Shit!”Had she been detected? No, it was too far away for the sensors to have caught her movements. The craft immediately turned and headed towards another pile of rubble where a second hunter-killer was hovering.At that moment, Nayeli saw what it was going after. A female dragon and two lings had tried to take refuge in a collapsed building. They raised their hands with terrified looks on their faces.Even at a distance, Nayeli could make out the sheer horror. The eyes of the dragonlings were soaked with tears. The older one trembled with fear while trying to hide it. They were fully aware of the fate that was likely waiting for them, Nayeli was sure of it.The older one threw her hands in the air, “No, wait, plea…”The terrible robotic sound of a rapid-fire pulse cannon cut off her screams. Nayeli immediately turned away and closed her eyes. She knew what was happening. The body of the female dragon hit the ground with a loud thud.A second later, the firing ceased and was replaced by the screams and sobs of the juvenile dragons. Nayeli closed her eyes, waiting for the next shots that would end their lives, but to her surprise, it never came. The pilot had apparently decided to spare the lings, but why?Their voices were quickly overpowered by an older, far more intense one, “Don’t move or we’ll open fire!”Nayeli turned back to see that two soldiers had apparently been winched down from the hunter-killer. They were dressed in heavy black armor and brandished massive rifles. Their masks made them look like fearsome monsters.The children obeyed the commands, likely more out of terror than obedience. Nayeli reached into a second pocket in her cloak and withdrew a larger pistol with a scope and significantly larger muzzle.The rubble crumbled as she rested her stomach against it and peered into the scope on the pistol. She steadied her grip and slowly moved the crosshairs so that they lined up with one of the primary thrusters on the hunter-killer. It was a narrow slit between the armor and the thruster itself.She sucked down a deep breath, waiting until she was ready. It was nearly an impossible shot, but she had to try. A scream from one of the dragonlings prompted her into action, “Let’s see how you like this, Imp scum!”She squeezed the trigger, unleashing three blasts from the pistol. The blue bolts screamed through the air, striking the hunter-killer on the port side primary thruster. The engine sputtered and died out, causing the ship to lose altitude and pull away. Yes, got it! Oh man, Joaquim will never believe that!The startled soldiers turned their attention to the rubble where the gunshot had come from. One of them raised his rifle, “We’re under attack, take cover!”Not happening! Nayeli grabbed something under her cloak. It was a smooth, round, device with red lights on it. She depressed a small button on top. The light changed to blue as it released a high-pitched sound. Here we go!She quickly stood up and threw it. Her body was only exposed for a moment, but it was all the soldiers needed. One of them took aim and opened fire, hitting her in the shoulder before the small orb exploded in a flash of light.She yelped and collapsed behind the rubble again, nursing her shoulder. She only had moments to deal with the pain and did her best to ignore it. It’s okay… it’s just pain… just pain… it’s not bad.Her hand squeezed the wound as she turned and looked back over to see what had happened. Both soldiers had been knocked out by the concussion grenade, while the dragonlings were sobbing a few feet away. They were both shaking, afraid to move from their spot.Nayeli sucked down a deep breath before moving over to the soldiers. She quickly grabbed their rifles and sidearms and threw them in her pack.A small flicker of light caught her eye from the side pouch on one of the soldier’s hips. He was carrying four replacement power cells for the guns. She grabbed the cartridges and tucked them away. Jackpot! Having grabbed everything she could carry, Nayeli turned to leave. The sobbing of the dragonlings stopped her in her path. She looked back at them with an indifferent stare, “You should get out of here. They’ve only been knocked out.”The two dragonlings curled up together but refused to speak. Nayeli frowned, “Don’t you have someplace to take refuge? A home somewhere?”One of them shook its head.“Nowhere?” She demanded.The dragonling again shook its head, “No.”Nayeli looked at the dead dragonkin a few feet away, “Was that your mother?”The tears in the dragonlings’ eyes answered the question for her, “Oh… I see…”“They came for us in the night… they killed our daddy! He never even…”The dragonling lowered its eyes, too upset to say anything else. Nayeli clenched her fists as she looked back at the two soldiers she’d knocked out, “I’m sorry…”This was nothing new. Several dragon refugees at her camp had similar stories to tell. She had slowly become numb to them over time. However, she couldn’t leave these babies where they were.She reached out her hand to the nearest dragonling, “Come on, I’ll take you somewhere safe.”The dragonlings looked up at her in fear. They looked at her hand but didn’t take it. The smaller of the two recoiled nervously.Nayeli sighed, “What’s your name?”The larger of the two blinked as it timidly looked up at her, “Eutera, and this is Ixen…”“Eutera, those people are going to come back. If they catch you, they’ll take you somewhere that will not be pleasant. I can’t stick around and make you feel better. I’m really sorry about your mother, but she gave her life to try to save you. I can help take you somewhere safe, but you have to come with me now.”In the distance, she could hear the smooth engine of a hunter-killer. Ixen sucked down a deep breath and quivered, “They’re… they’re coming back?”Nayeli looked into out towards the crumbling buildings as a shadow passed by. The damaged ship must have sent out a distress call, “It won’t be long now.”Nayeli turned back to the dragonlings, “You have to trust me! We don’t have any time, you’ve seen what these people will do! Now, are you coming or not?”Her eyes flared as she spoke. The dragonlings looked at her oddly for a moment before Ixen grabbed Eutera’s hand and then reached out for Nayeli’s.She smiled, “Okay, good. Let’s get out of here!”Readers,Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.jimthewritingwizard@gmail.comI’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/B00P7FBXTUNote:
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

December 9, 2020 + advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Opinion, Science Fiction, Writing

Is Spellcheck Enough?

by Jim

Hi Jim,

I’m sure you’ve answered this before, but I can’t find it in any of your recent posts. I finished my book and just finished running spell check. Everything looks good and the only things it says I still have to fix are grammar errors that are part of the dialogue. Is that sufficient for submitting it to publishers?

Thanks,
Michel

Hi Michel,

NO!!! Spell check is by no means good enough. It will fix some of the more glaring errors, so it is a great tool to use, but being 100% reliant on it is extremely ill-advised. Spell check won’t catch some of the more nuanced or complex grammatical errors.

Let me give you an example… This is something that I’ve run into.

Say you’re writing a paragraph in the past tense, but one sentence you just accidentally switched.

What you wrote:
The little boy wants the candy.

What you meant to write:
The little boy wanted the candy.

Now, the first sentence isn’t going to make that much sense in context with the rest of the paragraph, but Spell check doesn’t look at context. It’ll look at the rest of the sentence, but that’s it. Because of this, it won’t catch the problem in that sentence.

That’s just one minor example… there are worse.

So what should you do? Re-read it three, maybe four times, and have other people take a critical eye to it. Find at least two unbiased sources to pick it apart and try to help you. Let them read it, critique it, and find the errors.

I hope this helps, please do yourself a favor and do not submit this until it’s ready.

Readers, what do you think? Is spell check good enough or do you agree? Do you have any advice for Michel? 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 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

December 9, 2020 + Action Figues, Comics, fantasy, Movies, Opinion, Science Fiction, Skyrim

Comic Collecting…

by Jim

So for the longest time now, my comic book collecting has been fairly minimal. Since I cancelled all of my Marvel pulls and have restricted myself to Teen Titans, Lady Mechanika and a few indie titles, my monthly box at The Hall of Comics has been kind of bare.

That being said, every now and then, I do get a diamond or two…

Lady Mechanika The Clockwork Assassin #1 SDCC 1/250, Autographed by Joe Benitez and M. M. Chen. I picked it up for a steal on eBay and had it tableted. This is why I love low-ball mercy bids, you never know what you might win. So an extremely rare, autographed copy of one of the first Lady Mech appearances was pretty awesome.

The other comic was likely not every worth the price of getting it tableted. So why did I bother? Well… honestly, because the person who did the cover happens to be my favorite artist on the planet, Chrissie Zullo. This comic was her first professional work in the comic industry and, despite it costing me a measly $5, I was thrilled to get it and have it autographed. Plus, Chrissie seemed pretty grateful that someone went out and found her first cover to sign. I’ve met her a few times and she is pretty nice to her fans. A lot nicer than some others I could name… *cough* Neal Adams! *cough!* (But that’s a story for another time).

So monetary-wise, it’s not worth much. To me though, it was worth every penny. Zullo’s art has always been incredible… though I do like her old stuff from like 2014-2015 better than what she’s currently doing…

An old Commission she did for me (Check out her site above and compare):

I don’t know what happened, but these days it seems like she’s trying to do a more family-friendly version of Chris Uminga’s work and as a result, almost everything comes out looking like Disney princesses with the same face. I get that an artist’s style changes over time… but I really think she took a step backwards compared to what she used to do in things like ‘The Wolf Among Us.’

That said, I’m still a fan and still will be. I can’t wait to see where her art goes next. Who knows? Maybe it’ll go back to the way it was.

Anyway, so this was a bit of a ramble, but I wanted to showcase a couple of recent acquisitions. Also, don’t let anyone tell you that a comic that may not be worth a ton, isn’t worth getting or preserving. The thing about collecting is that it isn’t always about what’s rare or monetarily value, but whatever catches someone’s eye. A personalized signature on From Fabletown With Love will definitely do that.

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