Author K. Williams Archived Pages

Home Improvements – Open Book Blog Hop #542

August 17, 2026 By Captain Maiel 2 Comments

Topic #542

What’s one thing about your writing that you would change if you could do it easily?

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop, Friend! The authors included in this ongoing learning series wish to thank you for your reading. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writing with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

There’s always room for improvements. Don’t ever get to a point in your writing career where you feel infallible. I realize that may be the goal, but what you actually want is satisfied readers. These are two different things, although they can gleefully hold hands as they skip through the fields of your writing career.

The real issue is, ego. As with every aspect of art or business, an ego can blind you to that which will make you stronger in your chosen field. When it’s said, be humble, that means retaining the ability to critique your own performance. Additionally, the ability to understand that others have taken steps to do so, and that education and street learning are different animals. Traditionally trained writers have both. It’s facts. Getting in the feels about isn’t helpful to your personal growth. Afterall, many authors who took the harder non-traditional route are doing just fine. The point to writing your book is to make an audience happy.

On the other hand, the lack of respect for traditionally trained writers ignores that they know a shit-ton and poured all their focus into studying the art for however many years under the tutelage of other writers who did the same. That knowledge transfer is vital to the art, and growth of the artist. This isn’t something to brush off or dump on. Remember, they have both street and institutional learning. Who would you want to learn from? They did their improvements–avidly. Does anyone really believe that standards are inconsequential?

If you can give respect to the knowledge and effort that other authors have put into their work, you’re more likely to be able to examine your own work honestly–while also having numerous sources from which to pull. Dunning-Kruger comes to mind. You have a better perspective on all the things that go into writing. If I vet an editor to work on my books with me, their education is a concern when looking at their resume. It is something that makes them eminently more qualified. That said, if I see that an editor may have very little higher education, may fall into self-taught, and have edited some amazing titles as the main editor, that matters, too. When an editor shows up with all of the above, you have a winner.

Understanding nuances in this manner is a great benefit to you and your writing. When you seek growth, it’s like doing your spiritual shadow work, for instance. You’ll have to look at every pimple in the mirror and think about how much it bothers you, if you can fix it, if it matters to fix it, or is this part of your style (grammar issues aren’t a style choice). Are you pushing boundaries artistically or are you hiding your mistakes behind my art my choice dressings? It’s not me or anyone else that should be held in contempt when you refuse to be honest about yourself. I love seeing others succeed. I don’t love having my work diminished after all the effort I’ve put into my art.

What would you change about your writing, though?

I wish I could stop myself from making those annoying, typical typos, like fro instead of for, teh instead of the. They slow me down when I’m typing furiously. I’m compelled to fix them in the moment and it can really kill the mood. However, if this was my biggest issue, I’d let it stand. It’s not that crazy. If only!

There are other improvements for my writing that I think about when reading other writers: vocabulary and active voice, showing not telling. I’d like to always have those excellent, high-grade words I’ll hear a lot of journalists throw out there. An author does risk alienating audience with those highfalutin terms (remember, you’re supposed to keep it simple for better reach). Sometimes, though, I really like the accuracy and sound of them. Even better is when you don’t sound pretentious using them. In addition, I bet they’d help me stay on task with the active voice and showing not telling. That line is one I walk closely at times. My professors insist I have done it well, making a fair balance, as it can’t entirely be avoided. I remain unsatisfied (as I should!).

Another way these improvements might help is in the skeletal writing of screenwriting. You have to use few words to say the thing you mean. You can’t dance around the point. Having words that would encapsulate all the meaning are economical and precise. Each page equates to a minute of film. That’s a binding rule. Therefore, having those perfect words in the moment I need them would be the greatest ability I can imagine. Yet, short of reading a dictionary, I’m not sure what words I miss in my lexicon until I hear them. There’s so much going on in there. They may not be missing, just lost in the files. A reminder is nice.

What concerns me about this ask: what if my style changes, and I lose my voice adopting such improvements? Your style should be your style regardless, but a good portion of it is in the words you choose and the way you string them together. It’s not grammatically wrong to tell, it’s just less interesting exposition. The writing is not as strong. I don’t think I would lose my voice in finding more ways to meet this expectation, to address those times I feel there is no way around that obstacle. Maybe it’s better discernment and quicker recall I seek?

That’s a compelling takeaway. Any of these would help me immensely in writing contracts but would it improve the short fall on respect I’m given at the day job or in fiction?

Click on the links in the scroll box below to find out what the other authors would like to change, if anything. Their different perspectives are a great way to weigh all the ideas. Before you go, drop your email address in the subscribe box. This way the hop will find you each Friday without the need to search for us. OBBH is a great tool for authors. See you next time!

The Collector – Open Book Blog Hop #541

August 10, 2026 By Captain Maiel 2 Comments

Topic #541

Do you collect anything in particular?

One of my favorite shows for a time was America Pickers. It makes sense. As an avid lover of history and archaeology, getting a peep at other peoples’ collections is a big deal for me. Antique stores, Oddity Shops, and museums are my favorite places. I find all the bits and pieces left by a human life endlessly fascinating. The stories behind them can often be remarkable. There are connections from the collector to the history behind that item–even when it’s just a vinyl doll.

Speaking of vinyl dolls, I’m a lover of the recent phenomena represented by Funko Pop and YouTooz. I’m also crazy for the 3d printed critters and fidgets. They keep me sane during my day at work and don’t take up a lot of space. In the end, they might fill a small beach bucket. Not a problem at all. The others, they take up some space. A win for any collector.

My books piled up with my Mr. Toad popcorn bucket, and testors paints for models (I made a Hal9000 kit).

I’ve collected figures and film memorabilia for sometime. There’s an extensive Lord of the Rings collection packed away, but I have figures from so many things. Definitely something I enjoyed that is a hold over from childhood. And, that is the point. I don’t believe in hanging up the things that brought you joy as a child just because you turned a certain age at some point. How does age stop it from making you happy? What does practical mean? If it keeps a smile on your face, harms no one, go ahead with it!

Right now, I am looking at my Freddie Mercury Funko Pop. He sits right beside my laptop. The greatest pipes in music. Ever. I will die on that hill. I grew up adoring Queen along with my brother, and and was so sad when we lost him. It was not fair, and I hated how the disease that took him was painted in that time. I was scared to death of it, which is normal, but that fear kept a lot of folks from helping those suffering. The heroes who stepped up, they hold a special place in my heart. All of that is contained in this little Funko, with the gold jacket and microphone. An icon of the times and community. So much love in my heart.

Beneath him, is stacked Endora and Samanta, to the side is Vincent VanGogh, and a retro Batgirl. These are all little icons of the things I love, from comics to old television and film. There’s a lot! So I won’t get into it. But, yes, I definitely collect more than books that I use for research, enjoyment, had for school, or manuals. It’s a busy space, but it reflects my busy mind, and brings a lot of joy. This is why someone becomes a collector

In the end, I can’t take it with me. My daughter is told that she should only keep what she wants auction the rest on one of the many collector sites. She’ll be up to speed and ready to go, when I start auctioning some in retirement. That said, just try to pry that Dalek out of my hands before I die. I will fight you!

In addition, as a film student (fulfilled in grad school), I have a huge DVD collection. I think I’ve mentioned it or shown some of it on another post. Let’s just say, I had enough to cover my studies, all the good stuff you need. My focus was Film Noir, which has been a good portion of my focus for a long time! Of course I ended up writing something that echoed those themes. The other is horror and fantasy. Enough said there.

My last big collection is my Halloween decorations. I can’t even tell you the extent that I have gone to make this a stellar collection. It has taken a long time, and I am still working on filling it out with some choice pieces. You can see some things from that collection in the post An Author’s Halloween – Open Book Blog Hop #245. It’s been several years since I wrote that, so a lot has changed in that time with this collection.

If you like, you can see more on my TikTok. Just go to my Halloween collection, and I have walkthroughs of my decorations from last year (log in required, loves). This is such a joy for me as a collector, to share!

My Christmas decor may be on the verge of being another collection, but I don’t want to claim that right now. Suffice it to say, there is a lot around this place. I wonder what the other authors collect. Let’s click on their links below in the scroll box to find out! Before you go, drop your email in the subscribe box on the top right. The hop will arrive in your inbox without searching for us. See you back here next time. Thanks for hanging out with us!

Zo’s Horse

August 8, 2026 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

This is such a rather boring title to give this post. I toyed with calling it Zoats, because of the bag of oats sitting next to her, but she was adamant about this being her horse. I think she wants to establish that this horse is literally hers. She was in love!

On our visit to Saratoga (in New York State), Zo was super stoked about a farm visit. She hasn’t been on one, but will insist to you that is where she was hatched. She often forgets she has fuzz not feathers, or the tiny tag on her backside. She’s a duck, alright. But, she is a plush duck.

That is such a loaded phrase.

Anyway, this mare was in her stable cooling off from the warm day and having a snack, when Zo climbed up the bales to peer in at her. Instant friends. As saucy as my plush girl is, she is great at making friends with animals. They trust her implicitly. The mare was no different. She snuffled Zo’s fluffy head, whinnied and gave that grin. Zo was even able to go on a guided ride later. The farmer said he’d never seen the mare so pleased to carry any other rider.

When they got back, the horse snuffled my hair and nuzzled against me as if to say thank you. Zo said they couldn’t possibly be separated, but she did eventually tire enough to let us leave. That mare has been the topic of nearly every conversation since. What am I going to do? I hope she will soon forget, but she’s been asking if we can facetime with the farmer and his horse. Oh, boy is this going to get awkward?

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-1.png — _{Shop Zo Duck on Cafe Press}

Is It Real? Open Book Blog Hop #540

August 3, 2026 By Captain Maiel 4 Comments

Topic #540

Have you included any of your major life events into your stories?

Writing historical fiction makes this an absolute yes. Real historical events are major life events, just shared by a lot more people. It’s hard to not include them in that genre. Everything hinges upon them. However, I try to be more creative than just focusing on actual history. In writing fiction, there is leeway. That said, I don’t like to teach wrong history either.

Literary license is a term that has been used in the past to cover up irresponsible behavior by authors in regards to history, realness, and important topics. While we would like to hold them responsible, we cannot ignore that the audience often passively accept what they read as fact, giving it no critical thought. They adopt the writing into their memories and attach it to realities. For the most part, when confronted, they’ll understand it isn’t for real, but they often have poisoned their understanding of a history by the fiction they attached to it. There is a better way!

A great example of this is how we remember our national histories and cultures. Very often, what is remembered is a fictionalized version over the real, built up from years of media consumption that doesn’t challenge sanitized and unsophisticated views and storytelling. Look to John Wayne films meant to entertain, not teach, but also leveraged to build consensus around what a population desired to believe about itself. When unchallenged, this becomes the history over the actual history. It’s more successful in being learned because it is fun, glitzy, and avoids complicated feelings.

With my historical writing, I don’t want to partake in this type of consensus building. It leads to misplaced and nationalistic notions that can actually build to violence. Thank you, I’ll pass on contributing to that outcome. But can we, as writers, avoid it entirely? As I said above, we can’t entirely hold the writer culpable. There are those who want fiction in place of fact. When presented in glitzy stories, it’s an easier pill to swallow. When history dresses in less complicated language and omissions, we cope with it best. It’s seductive.

I totally understand. Real history is such a dark tale. That said, we cannot sit here with a binary of black and white. That’s how we continue to repeat terrible acts against one another. Humans are so grey–a brilliant mix of bad and good, complicated and messy. That’s more interesting than blowing sparkling smoke up the ass of the reader to make them feel better about themselves. Let them be wholly seen as complicated individuals. So what. We all have work to do on ourselves and our behavior.

Likewise, I write about more personal experiences to let those complicated people out there know they are not alone either. For instance, if Trailokya reaches one or two victims of domestic violence (DV) before they end up in the most dire of straits–I’ve done my job well. The thing is, DV isn’t one of those histories that we face head on and discuss to prepare our future generations against it. We teach them not to bully, to love the Earth, and that war is bad. Do we ever teach them the red flags that a partner might wave in their face so they can protect themselves?

Worldwide, red flags are swept under the rug and excused. You’ll see manipulative behavior promoted as strength, common sense, or even care. Relationships are already complicated. How do we parse what is normal and what is a warning sign? My thought was to rip the mask off of this. I take a inarguably strong character, who should never fall to manipulation, into such a place in their life, with everything going for them, and show how their world just seemed to conspire to create that situation. In essence, it is the culture and people in it who set us up to accept others that are not good for us, giving us all the excuses to forgive and allow when we shouldn’t.

You’re helping them heal. They have issues, and once they figure that out they’ll be a better person. They love you, and you should cooperate better to help them. They’re not succeeding because you’re not holding up your end of things. You need to try harder for them. Forgive them, because they didn’t mean to hurt you. They’ll do better next time. You have to provide them a soft landing. They work so hard and struggle, give them a break. He’s so really cute, though, I can’t believe he’d do that. He could have anyone, but he picked you, be grateful. It’s your role.

It’s incredible the things we will hear from others in the periphery of our relationships. Their family and friends, our family and friends, then acquaintances and outsiders, sometimes leaders, all operate in ways that assist the perpetrator–aware or not of what they do–because the culture is constructed to do so. It’s as if the original human abuser set it all up to perpetuate the manipulation for eternity. Maybe they did (after all, look at history).

Taking everything I learned and compacting it into a tale that I drew from decades of dreams and nightmares is me telling a real shared human tale, hoping to save someone from the suffering, and create ripples in my community that will reach across the spaces between us and teach. Domestic violence is so nefarious. The survivor is forever changed, often permanently harmed, yet the laws don’t reflect this. How do we change any of that? We teach what it is, how it manifests, and how to help protect against it until we can get legislation that addresses this economic and health drain to our community from such a damaging act.

It’s an uphill battle, but making a difference for a few matters. Let’s see what the other authors have written into their work. I know a few have, but I’ll let them tell you about it because they make it so interesting! Don’t forget to subscribe before you go. Drop that email in the box on the top right. The hop will arrive in your inbox without the need to search for us. Easy as pie! See you next time.

Alternative Fiction and Real People in Novels – Open Book Blog Hop #539

July 27, 2026 By Captain Maiel 4 Comments

Topic #539

Have you modeled any of your characters on a real person?
How do you disguise them (if needed?)

Writing alternative history, colloquially called alt fic, can be fraught with legal pitfalls. If you don’t trip on legal issues, you could trip and break your credibility. You have to be mindful of how and why you use real individuals as characters. I advise going with long dead individuals over recent historical figures. Also, if you model a character on someone in your personal life, don’t tell them that, if you value them in your life. I’ve done both.

The Baron, Morgentus — ^{Morgentus, The Trailokya Trilogy. Is he real or made up? Ask my dreams.}

You might say, well, who cares. I’m not writing my work to coddle anyone. That’s fine. Be prepared for the fallout is all that I am really saying. Be sure you cover yourself to avoid legal suits or any other difficulties that may arise. Even when you tell someone in your life that they show up in your book, they will remain judge and jury of how you depicted them. You can’t predict how that will go, even if they are flattered by knowing this. Once they read it, you may be in the dog house there forward. Don’t be surprised. There are hundreds of authors out there who have talked about how that goes. Sitcoms have made episodes. Cinema has mentioned it. Write what you know carefully!

In my historical drama, I have included long deceased historical figures. The events of the book take place during a tumultuous historic event that changed my country forever. It still haunts us and we still have yet to grapple with all the pieces. The events that followed were touched by its ripples. Today, even, we are touched by its ripples. An important tale.

Those figures, however, don’t take too much part in the drama. They are there like set dressing. Their actions can catalyze the events throughout the story that affect the characters. In addition, I am mindful of the history and take care to portray them as accurately as possible, without getting alternative to the point of absurdity. My whole point was to immerse the characters into actual history. Thus, it’s key that I respect everything as it happened and was.

Likewise, my spy thriller follows the same formulas. This was difficult. We’re talking Nazis. How do you separate your horror, grief, and anger for what they did from maintaining the accuracy? For me, it was about portraying them accurately as not to give them one inch in which to redeem themselves. The research was taxing, in that it revealed how very human they are. However, this has prepared me for current days and watching others realize that horrible people are as nuanced as every other person. I truly wish they were just monsters with no gray areas to mask them. We’d identify them quickly and save so many from them.

Writing that dark story paved the way for how I was able to handle my dark paranormal fantasy. It taught me how to respect other cultures while carefully weaving links between them to create a fictional realm. The most difficult part was having the home world of the heroes being called Zion. As this book posits that we all hail from a parallel universe we barely remember, and parts and pieces (including language–words) comes through with us, I went through picking words that held an essence of memorability.

Well, that’s very perspective based.

Open Book Blog Hop, Blue Honor — ^{The Photo that became the cover of Blue Honor, featuring Jack.}

To choose this name, I lined up multiple terms for heaven through multiple theologies and cultures. I considered them for ease of remembering, age, and sound. There wasn’t any nefarious favoritism toward them. Absolutely, literary analysis could write for days about the meanings of place names, the clashes they may echo, and bias. To this, I would remind others, that while I use an Islamic term for Hell, which is a fantastic word, there is no support of Zionism here. Islam has a word for their hell world. I did not say hell was for Islam. Regions in Jahannam carry Greek names. Am I also saying the Greeks are bad? Maybe it is more suitable to say that, having suffered so much, they know what hell is? Likewise, having suffered so much, Judaism knows heaven. Let’s not support such division.

By the way, the commander of Walhall in Zion is based on Persian culture. Memory is unreliable. Words change ownership in the human realm. Events and the zeitgeist change how we view history and words. For instance, it’s seems to be the thing to hate on a group of people because of their governments. I’d be screwing myself if I backed such ideas. Let’s be honest, the USA isn’t doing well out there right now.

The Afterlife in Different Cultures: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism
Ark Historia

A main idea threading through the series is that we misremember a lot and thus mischaracterize things where we are now. We have developed a language apart from the home realm, so many languages over time, cherry picking things and changing their meanings. Keeping with the above example, you find that the bad guys are seeking reentry into Zion, and therefore they’re more like Zionists, trying to open that door through violence and force. On the other side, all of the peoples of the universe in which humans find themselves are trying to stop that and build peace. They want to maintain the separation, as it serves the point of the plane (our universe) existing at all.

A lot of misunderstanding, misinterpretation of texts and memories, goes on between the characters. Of course I added to this tumultuous text by basing a lot on personal experiences and individuals who have come in and out of my life. Some are composites, some are pieces, and some might be whole. The book is based on dreams I have had. Therefore, they hold a lot of symbolism or representative details.

You’ll find some real people alluded to in the work, too. I kept to references because the book is weighty enough! It deals with such serious things, like domestic violence, bigotry, and world events. Another pile of bricks would have made it so heavy. Besides, lessons learned from the historical work: you don’t need to put them there at all. Alluding for effect felt a bit lazy. Why bother? For instance, mentioning Malcolm X at the Parker House was more of a sidebar random fact that has not come up again. Could it come in a later sequel? Perhaps I have been laying the ground work. I don’t know yet. In hindsight, it just felt pointless when I started the series, so I avoided being so pointless.

ai rendering of a wwii spy from OP-DEC, Marcel in a leather jacket

As mentioned above, compositing behaviors into a character is the best way I have found to include everything that I needed. Face it, we are shaped daily into the humans we presently are by hundreds of interactions with known and unknown other individuals. To write them all in the book would be a confusing and arduous task. Instead, if it felt formative enough, the instigators get melded, packing them into fewer and fewer people. They stay or go as needed.

Take note that it is useful, if you can have a recurring character that can be that person who does the things instead of creating new flats for each. That said, once they have done their part, they often part ways. This break in connection fully symbolizes the loss of their influence. That doesn’t necessarily mean that person is gone from my real life. Death or parting, therefore, becomes (not less serious) a break from.

Remember, in the series, death is just a transition from one plane of existence into another, and the characters can move around. Going to Oblivion is the unmaking that would result in never returning, and none of the characters know for certain that that is the end for them. All they know is, a negative entity returns no more to any realm from there, that they have recognized. Unmade, perhaps they go back to Nirvana to start over? In a way, isn’t that the same as ceasing to exist, to be unmade so wholly you are not recognizable?

With that heavy thought, please click on the links below to see how the other authors answer this fantastic question. I am curious to learn how they navigate this potentially sticky situation. Don’t forget to subscribe before you go (top right). The hop will arrive every Friday to your inbox without having to hunt for us. See you next time! Thank you for stopping in and spending a moment to read my thoughts.