Writing Historical Fiction Archives - Page 10 of 33

Elevator Going Up – Open Book Blog Hop #414

February 19, 2024 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #414

Do you have an ‘elevator pitch’ for your books?
(A brief 30 second or so introduction)

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

An elevator pitch is an important part of your marketing plans. Once you have that pitch down, you can build your platform around that single piece. Basically, it’s the hub of what you’ll use to draw in readers and any other attention you’re after for your books (looking for management, publisher, and other options). Have you ever thought about one?

Because I also work in screenwriting, this is a normal part of what I do for scripts. You’ll see them start as loglines. It’s a quick one or two sentence summary. The elevator pitch starts with that tidbit. If they want to hear more, they will ask. Be prepared to give the summary in as a compelling manner.

The easiest way to think of this is the back of the book blurb. Notice how everything returns to your short description (logline) and book blurb? That’s why they’re so important. And, you can continue to hone them as you go on through your career. Sharpening these is a good idea, and the more feedback you get, the more likely you are to find better ways to state something and increase the draw to your material.

What do my elevator pitches look like? This is what I have to date for my scripts and books:

The Trailokya Trilogy, The Shadow Soul (Book 1) Genre: Fantasy – A military officer, from a dimension that gave rise to human mythologies, flees her home world after botching a mission and possibly giving her demonic enemy the keys to invasion.

Trailokya received a Hollywood Book Festival Honorable Mention in Science Fiction, I’m imagining the books as a streaming series like The Witcher meets Insidious meets Inception. The Shadow Soul is the first part of three in the Trailokya Trilogy, a dark paranormal fantasy following the rise and fall of mythic races at the junction of three worlds : Samsara at the center of a battle for control between Zion and Jahannam.

This tale will leave you questioning long held convictions about the human legends of Heaven and Hell. Are you ready to enter the gates of Zion and learn the truth about what humans are?

Captain Maiel, a duta warrior of Zion, a race of giant, winged guardians and chroniclers of all souls throughout the universe of Samsara. Maiel’s reality is shaken when her young human assign is threatened by the dark forces of Jahannam, a prison realm where the dark beings known as danava reside. Avoiding the leaders of her world, Maiel seeks refuge on Earth. There she is pursued by a danava baron intent on possessing her. Can she be saved before time runs out? Or will she be sacrificed to secure the borders of Zion and to hide the secrets her journey uncovers?

With each step further into darkness, Zion’s long held secrets are revealed and shadows rise out of the past to challenge absolutes.
The Trailokya Trilogy Elevator Pitch

Blue Honor (Genre: Historical Drama, War) – Emily is emotionally lost in the hills of Vermont as the Civil War explodes in the South, sending a shockwave of change both frightening and hopeful.

Blue would make a sweeping historical film that explores the intertwining of four families during the course of the Civil War Era in the United States. First among them is the Conrad family and their daughter Emily. Emily is the bookish and indulged daughter of a wealthy dairy family in Vermont. She is educated in literature and medicine, filled with ideas that aren’t acceptable to her more urbane mother, who thinks Emily should settle down with her longtime friend and town philanderer Evan Howell. The outbreak of war frees Emily from those expectations for a time, but a stranger soon arrives after the guns begin to blaze, threatening her plans more than societal conventions ever could.

Devoted to Emily who healed her wounds, Henrietta becomes part of the Conrad family, hoping that she may one day see her husband and son again. Hettie, as she is called, is a runaway slave. She’s been lucky enough to find a slice of peace in Vermont, but the return of Evan Howell and the man with him portends a change that might see her locked back in irons, if not executed for what she’s done.

Evan the town philanderer isn’t as bad as his reputation makes him out. A loveable rogue, he knows his chum Emily will make a great doctor, and he knows he’s not the man to marry such a girl. With a little manipulation, he convinces his commanding officer, Lieutenant Joseph Maynard, to take leave with him and hopefully take to the girl in his stead. He doesn’t let on it’s not hillsides and streams he’s setting the man up for.

Joseph has both power and privilege as the son of a Baltimore lawyer, but neither can guarantee him the things he wants in life: deeply tied to abolitionist ideology. His commission in the army is likely to lead to death, a sacrifice willingly makes to end slavery—until he discovers Emily Conrad who provides him a new compelling reason to live. Torn between duty and desire, Joseph struggles to stay standing for that which he once held strong convictions. War weary, they all march on to duty…
Blue Honor Elevator Pitch

OP-DEC: Operation Deceit (Genre: World War II Spy Thriller, Noir) – A 1940s socialite begrudgingly returns home only to be kidnapped by a spy intent on transferring her family wealth to the Nazi war machine via her treacherous father.

A shadowy past becomes a sinister future…OP-DEC: Operation Deceit

Taking a very 1930s/1940s setting, OP-DEC starts in 1933 at the height of Boston’s social season. Young Claire Healey overhears a terrible argument between her industrial-tycoon father and her socialite mother. Claire’s father sends her mother away, declaring she is hysterical with fatigue. Displaced by this disastrous outcome, Claire is brought to New York by her spirited aunt, to be raised beyond the reach of the damaging turn of events.

Nine years later, Claire returns to her childhood home to face her past once more. The world has long since exploded in war. A mysterious stranger named Carsten Reiniger has infiltrated the scene, placing his commanding presence among the old familiar faces of Boston’s elite. Intrigued by the newcomer, Claire struggles to piece together his identity and finds a dangerous connection to her troubling past.

When Claire’s prying comes to light, she and her aunt are whisked away in the middle of the night to ensure their silence. Can Carsten Reiniger be trusted or is he implacably loyal to duty alone? With his mood shifting between surly and accommodating, Claire is kept off guard. However, something about the man draws her closer until she is finds herself so deeply involved that it could be her end.

For the sake of surviving, Claire and her aunt work on Carsten to ally with them. The suspicion that he is not who he says he is grows with every step. The identity is so complete, so impossible to peel back, that Claire uses her only weapon to wedge open the truth. Things end with no more clarity than their escape from Berlin, leading to a sequel in the works that ramps up the tension more than the first tale.
OP-DEC: Operation Deceit Elevator Pitch

Click on the links below to find out what pitches the other authors have constructed for their works. Before you go, please subscribe via the box on the top right margin (web) or scroll down to find the box on your phone. See you next time!

What’s My Name? – Open Book Blog Hop #412

February 5, 2024 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #412

How do you choose your characters’ names?

Accuracy matters. You may have a name rattling about your skull that you think is great, but you might want to slow your roll before applying it to your next book/character. I’m very serious. Do you know how important a name is? Shakespeare wasn’t saying that anything goes. He was actually pointing out that certain considerations could prove deadly to an endeavor.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
No Sweat Shakespeare
🌹

I want you to consider as you go through this with me, about what Juliet was ignoring by her quote? The very real reality that others judge you and gauge who you are by the name you carry. It is inescapable despite efforts not to judge a book by its cover (which is another inescapable literal reality).

When choosing a name, it certainly is entirely up to the author who creates the characterization enveloped in it. That said, there are consequences to every decision we make as an author. Name selection deserves respectful consideration. Just because we may believe that name that we came up with is fantastic name, this doesn’t mean that it works the way we feel it does when applied. Do you want to be the one they make mocking comments to, leave low reviews, or even create derisive videos about? I bet not! While you think this is great exposure for your work, this kind of content removes all respect for your work. Any review isn’t a good review.

Why might a reader do such a thing? Frankly, because you didn’t do your due diligence in selecting a name. Whether you are writing a fantasy, science fiction story, or a historical piece, you want to be absolutely sure that your selected name is the best you can muster. That goofy stripper name rattling around your head isn’t the best go at naming your sci-fi outworld princess nor your favorite elf. I’m not sorry I said it.

If you haven’t built a culture around fantasy and science fiction characters, you haven’t really gotten to the point where you can start naming them. Have you thought about what is inspiring that name pop-rocks-ing it through your thoughts? What does it sound like? Does it create the emotions you want your readers to feel when you hear it? Give your character a cheap name and you’ll cheapen them. Take the time to explore the character and the culture from which they come–even if you’re making it up.

While a name that just sort of came to you sounds great in your head, give it a thorough test. When writing historical fiction, you will need to know if that name is period, location, ethnic, and culturally appropriate. Should you be writing fantasy or science fiction, consider all of those things in alignment with the world in which you’ve set your story. Names convey an exponential amount of characterization.

Should you still go with the glitterati name you picked off a sticky dance floor regardless of this advice, realize that everything that name contains is potentially a pandora’s box. Like I said before, if you pick a stripper name for a princess, do not expect her to be respected by readers or other characters. She’s diminished when called something beneath her. There are gads of videos laughing at poor choices made by authors along these lines. It’s a meme! Respect yourself, your work, and the art form by being more choosy. It will pay you back in dividends.

a black chalkboard displays a chalk drawn thought cloud containing a real light bulb. Ideas.

Speaking of Pandora, did you know that names can serve as an Easter egg for your readers? Today’s discerning reader will love unpacking the details you packed into your book, uncovering more and more with every go. You do not have to bash them over the head with the meaning, either. Just let them look it up themselves. Leave it at the name existing in your book. It’s enough.

There are so many sites out there to derive names from. Baby sites are a favorite of mine due to the sorting options. Once you’ve found something you like, look into it more deeply. Have you ever looked into your own name? That’s it. Same thing. That’s how you look.

What if you make it up? The sound of it will emote the meaning you’re seeking from it when attached to your character. Princess Bubbles says it all, am I right? Oh, boy. So does, Jewelalynn or some other amateurish mashup. She sounds young and silly. That reminds me, your application of names goes beyond those cultural aspects to more personal details like age, aspiration, ability, intelligence, and maybe even vocation. I can’t imagine calling a warrior Jewelalynn and having her taken seriously.

green road sign with arrows pointing to multiple written "possibilities." Open Book Blog Hop naming conventions

Have you ever watched Star Wars episodes and wondered who was allowed to name that character? One of the most recent is Grogu. That name suggests something more along the lines of a villainous slug than a cute baby ninja. Folks reacted to the reveal with a mix of emotions, mostly bad. Luckily, they let everyone get deeply attached before they pulled the lid off that 1-star dish. That is the only thing that saved him and that show. Remember poor Jarjar? So, even the super professionals can mess this up! Thank god, they did their due diligence every where else-mostly.

If you’re wedded to that sodapop name in your head, audience test it with trusted people. They will tell you what they think of it. Be thankful for them, because they can help make your character better and stronger. All of that matters to building readership. Just as they won’t take your story seriously because of terrible names, they will also cease to take you seriously.

Research matters in so many aspects when writing a book. Check out what the other authors have to say about how they choose a name for their characters by clicking on their links below. It’s super important for a writer to understand these small nuances in order to give themselves the best shot. Don’t forget to add your email address in the box at the top right to get this hop and great writing tips delivered to your inbox each Friday. See you back here next week!

Other hops where I spoke about naming conventions:

Open Book Blog Hop #179
Open Book Blog Hop# 325

Anonymity – Open Book Blog Hop #411

January 29, 2024 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #411

Do you use or have you considered using different
pen names for different genres of your writing?

The short answer is yes. Wanting anonymity is a reasonable request in the field. We all are aware of how things can go south quickly when our words are insensitive or perceived in that manner. Writing is not an easy field to endure. The way the public views the matter: what we write cuts from the same cloth of which we are cut. Pen names pose a truly serious topic.

When I was considering how I would put my name on my books, I thought a long time about the impression it would give. Was I going to gain better respect from a name I put on that book that was not my own? In what way was it advantageous? Is it at all necessary?

name tags and markers — ^{Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash}

While studying at college, discussions frequently ranged around the perception of authors due to various cultural markers attached to them. Whether race or gender affects your ability to garner respect for your art is undebatable. It simply does. Humans have not passed these prejudices, and there are systems in place that keep them going year after year. Until systemic bias is dismantled, such cycles continue.

Therefore, I wondered how the perception of me as female impacted my work and public reception. A health dose of experience since first publishing has largely confirmed what we discussed in those college courses. From the woman shopper at my first book signing incredulously realizing I had written the copies to which I was adjacent to the dismissal of my degrees and expertise by family members and colleagues alike because of their familiarity with me and the perceived gender that did not align with being an astute writer. No beard. Nor the bad breath. Not a single pipe. I wasn’t fitting the image.

That right there is why marginalized groups say that representation matters. If we don’t see them fitting the image, we doubt them. No, we shouldn’t, but we do. The human brain loves patterns. If the mind detects a bit out of pattern, it wants to boot the difference. Yes, I well know that People should perceive each other this way. However, the brain conditioned not to function this way instead of encouraged to do so is more rare (as society has done for millenia to manipulate power and control over minds).

The option to use my name versus some other name became a point again when I decided to straddle two seemingly disconnected genres. Thankfully, that notion easily went to its final rest. Whether I am writing something that is dark fantasy or something other-wordly, I am still using culture and history to inform the tale. Likewise, there is an air of noir to everything I write. Thusly, they were very much interconnected.

When I chose to go ahead with my real name, little thought focused on the fears of notoriety versus anonymity, and the over zealous reader. How many individuals will actually read my books? Well, I hope millions, but the reality is that is unlikely to be a problem that I face in my lifetime. Perhaps, they will discover my books post mortem and make my gravesite a problem for the cemetary owner. Still quite doubtful.

Choosing to use my initial for my first name was then down to gender concerns and spacing on the covers. As I have written about before, the use of K was an homage to my great mother who went by Kay (short for Katherine). K’s feature prominently in the names of my family members. It’s our thing. My brother calls himself K2 because he is a second. I wasn’t going with K3. My dad went by his middle name until later in life. Thus, I just took the single K. I did not go with Kay because I was not my grandmother.

Settling on the name printed on the front of my books did not hide my gender from anyone, except at first glance. Once you see my photo on the back, the gender notions will clearly fall into place. However, the initial faces forward, and once the book is in your hands, you’ll flip it round to check out the back, and hopefully your hot little hands cover that photo while you rip through the blurb. By then, if I don’t have you, then my photo is neither here nor there. In my informed opinion, that reader judged me for my content and not my appearance. Further, there was no erasing myself.

In the end, I pushed back against anonymity. I rebelled at the idea of disconnection from the body of work I struggled hard to produce and of which I was quite proud. Attitudes around bespectacled and tenured professors be damned. I worked damn hard on my books and my education that trained me in the field. If a person refuses to respect me because of their perceptions and surface factors, then they’re not my reader anyway. The journey through my story would just make them further upset, and I only wish them to be peaceful and harm no one.

That said, there are some amazing great pen names both modern and historical. Every author chooses what works best for them. That choice deserves respect. In these pen names is a level of ability in creativity that speaks volumes about their writing. That doesn’t mention how simply fun they can be.

One other aspect, which I nearly forgot, is the financial impact factor. Using a pen name may cause issues getting paid properly or raise questions about income reporting to the government in the United States. A pen name is seen as a business name. As such, many businesses require registration and their own tax number. What a headache! I was not prepared to take that mess on.

Pen names serve a multitude of functions for an author. They should be considered with care and worked on just as hard as the book on which they eventually rest. Be sure to click on the links below to read what the other authors have to say on this topic. They may have tips for those looking to apply a pen name to their writing. Don’t forget to drop your email in the box on the top right to have this hop sent to your inbox every Friday! See you back soon.

open book blog hop, camera and a notebook on a vintage map

What’s Your Order? – Open Book Blog Hop #409

January 15, 2024 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #409

Do your books have to be read in any particular order?

To quickly answer about the order of my books, I suppose not. The stories can stand alone. I wrote them to function as whole stories, even the ones that are part of a series. However, there will be a lot left out and thus a lot less understanding and enjoyment of the Trailokya Trilogy if you read them out of sequence. THere is an overarching story between the three books. There is also a serialized portion.

Apparently a lot of people care about this topic to a depth I had not really considered before. Although, I have to say, I did inquire of Neil Gaiman which was best to start with in his oeuvre. Whole sites are dedicated to the order of books. As student of intertext, I can say that this is so satisfying to think about. If you can, imagine all of the intertext that reading in order can unravel!

The order in which I have penned my current published works does not matter. You can read Blue Honor after everything else, or OP-DEC. Or, read them between. You could read those and not the Trilogy because you prefer historical drama and thrillers or war stories more than you prefer dark fantasy and paranormal stories (regardless of their time or presence of war). Vice versa, reading the trilogy and not the other books. On that note, I recommend reading the Trilogy from book one thru book three.

That said, when I release OP-GHO, then you’ll want to meet up with Claire at the outset of her story in OP-DEC. If I ever manage to sit down for a minute and do the research and writing for Blue’s sequel (yes, I have an idea I’ve been mulling about), then you’ll want to start with Emily’s story and then go to the next. However, those are not present and accounted for, so read Blue and OP whichever order you feel.

The Trailokya Trilogy builds information throughout the series. As I stated above, you would be able to get along in the story if you started with Burning Down, but you’d not entirely understand why Holly is having the trouble she is having, and the long standing feud that feeds it. You do get a taste of why she is where she’s at, and why Jet is the way he is. Lucent Continues the story sewing all the pieces up, but leaving a door open for more new adventures.

Click on the links below to see how the other authors in the hop answer this question, and you might find more new books to add to your TBR pile! Don’t forget to subscribe (drop your email in the top right box), so you receive this hop each Friday and don’t have to search for it. We will see you back next time!

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2024 Publishing Predictions – Open Book Blog Hop #408

January 8, 2024 By Captain Maiel

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #408

Do you have any predictions as to what will change in
writing/in the world in general in the new year?

Observing trends is part of what we authors are expected to do in order to build platforms and do well in our art. Prediction from those trends are how you plan your marketing. Times have changed for us over the past two decades, coinciding with the rise of social media and the influencer. Authors don’t just write anymore. We must be the entire commercial business, if we plan to publish successfully.

What is successfully published? That is whatever the individual determines, or you could go by corporate trends. You may think of it in terms of sustainable income, too. However, I don’t view sustainable income as a caveat of being a successfully published author. Are you published? Well, that sounds like you successfully published your book to me, if so.

My prediction for 2024 will follow what I have seen coming along the pike for the last two decades in which I have been an author, observing all of the mess this business is and continues to be (thanks to corporate publishers). Let’s see if you can guess what I will have to say. Now, I’ll get started.

2024 Prediction

Influencing on social media is at its peak and will start to decline. This means that using any social media platform to reach folks will be steadily more useless. What is it that will come to replace this? I have no idea, right now, but it may just roll back to how things were prior to the shiny object of online communication. Or, something like virtual life interfaces (think oculus, pre-holodeck tech). You’ll have avatars and fake identities, living out a whole other life in your non-work day.

Writers will be expected to posh it up in cafes and bars, clubs and libraries. It is part of the fad requiring us to market our work whether we are independent or corporate published. The pressure will be extra high for the folks publishing through corporations, who expect them to also produce spotless copy and carry all the burden of sales, while they reap the benefits of that work or fire you for failing. Independent authors will carry on as they always have. This is not a difficult prediction to make.

Independent authors will continue to be the most stable bracket, not burdened by the flippancy of corporate consumers. However, there will continue the trend of poorly written copy, with poor edits, as fake authors and fake editors continue to use book publishing as a con derived meal ticket. Authors who are genuine will flourish in the social media supported spaces, where they can make connection and hone their skills, learning what is good writing and who to avoid as far as editors, because we are the group that loves to share! And sharing will continue to gain space and scope.

Corporate publishing will make the move toward publishing only celebrity authors. They will work with ghost writers to create books under celebrity names. Agents/managers will dwindle to few, consolidating across all media forms to keep their positions going. (In the future, I see these positions becoming corporate arms of the media companies, like headhunters. Probably then, the cycle will go back around again.) The big publishers will continue to be a thing for textbooks and celebrity tripe, as well as non-fiction outside of textbook labels.

I do not give the prediction that anything goes easier for authors, regardless. We will still have to be the entire publishing business rolled into one person. We will have to scout our editors, learn our craft well, be influencers, public speaker, sales person (marketer), and our own label. Obtaining literature will be harder for readers, and sales will continue to plummet in corporate sales, but remain as ever they were in independent works. This is what will lead to Corporate publishers finally cutting off the actual literature arm of their publishing enterprise. Soliciting them will be a no go unless you’re a celebrity.

None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Authors wake every day to the existing reality that their hard work earns others money they should receive. It’s an unfair, exploitive system that doesn’t serve them. And, there’s a way away from it. Perhaps, in the coming years, and independent and affordable union (not the writer’s guild, but a whole other independent entity–although they may shift to indy authors) will form to negotiate the rates of overhead a publisher can claim against our sales, and create a network of legitimate editors, designers, and the lot of services we use. In the meantime, word of mouth online will pinch the con-artists harder, reducing their impact on the average author.

Additionally, as we move ever forward, paper copies will continue to decline in sales. While everyone says they enjoy them, they have been declining for years, and newer generations are not as attached to them. It will become niche–like book collectors of old. On the crossroads of that, the world literacy rates will decrease as technology remains inaccessible to the majority. This is where unionization is going to have a great impact in the future–pushing to make tech more affordable as it increasingly becomes the normal way of life.

Did my predictions align with what I’ve written about publishing in the past few years? Let’s hop through the other author predictions by clicking on their links below. Don’t forget! Scroll to the top of the page to subscribe to my blog and have this hop delivered to your inbox each friday afternoon (est).