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Why Do I Write? Open Book Blog Hop #288

August 30, 2021 By Captain Maiel

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

Topic #288
“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” – Flannery O’Connor.
Authors have many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write?

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

Why do I write? It’s a fair question and not unfamiliar. People often wonder what is it that root of a storyteller’s gift. There’s a lot down there. Just like soil is made of hundreds of seemingly similar particles, so are the pieces of why we write. They may be interrelated or completely unrelated. Whatever is behind it, however, is what makes each writer and their voice unique. And, that is why there is room for all of us writers.

I write because I used to read a lot and I never found a book that quite told the story that I wanted to read, so I decided I would do it myself. Searching for the perfect book made me weary. I found a lot of books I loved. I watched a lot of films I also love. However, not one of them quite hit the spot. Nothing would fit the bill like writing exactly what my own mind desired.

You might be wondering now if I managed to hit the spot with my own work. While I love the exhilaration of writing a new story, and putting it out for public consumption, the whole process–I’m still writing because there was never just one story for me to tell. Each one hits different. Every title hits the spot in it’s unique space.

Outside of this, there are other reasons to write. For instance, I wrote the trilogy because, as I mentioned previously, I had these dreams about another world since I was a kid. When I reached adulthood, and started to examine them more closely, I saw a story develop. Then, of course, this realization pushed on my mind to create the novels. I started out with a script, so I wouldn’t loose the detail I had discerned. Yet, that wasn’t enough. More dreams and years later, greater detail, more answers to questions, a clearer picture evolved.

There was a lot of research to do, as well. As you know, the series deals with multiple mythologies and belief systems. Trying to get them to agree and find where they did agree, where they diverged, and all the other details took time. I’m glad I knew at the time that I penned the script, that I wasn’t prepared to write this as a novel. I am still unsure I was when I did, but I felt stronger than ever about the story. It felt like time.

Above all, I write because I know that I share a lot in common with my fellow human beings, as far as tastes in stories (books or film or pop culture). Therefore, I believed that the effort of writing my stories down and going through the publishing process was worthwhile. There had to be others out there like me who wanted to read these stories. I couldn’t just leave them locked up in my head. Although they had come to my brain, I suspected that they weren’t just for me.

from the trailokya trilogy companion — Otzar, Mount Zion, The White City, Zion – The Trailokya Trilogy – Otzar is where the atman come in from Nirvana, to evolve in the other planes before becoming ascended.

Trailokya, for instance, is hitting a time where a great many people are awakening to their roots and seeking information on the sacred, stories about the paranormal, and the connections a story (fiction) can bring to them on the topics. The series is timely, not just a trek through science fantasy (dark fantasy, paranormal, or horror). It’s an adventure that illustrates a lot of the ideas that people are coming to. It tells them, hey, someone else out here is going through this too. This story wouldn’t exist if they weren’t. You’re not alone.

Stories exist to create connection in cultures. The world is shedding the old borders as humanity struggles to come together and connect more deeply. Old wounds are being healed. New paths are being forged. I write to meet these changes and help foster those connections. Am I successful? I have no idea. You’ll have to tell me well after I’ve left this world, and if my work remains and is examined by scholars. If someone is still reading the series, hopefully still published by my heirs, then I think maybe I have been successful in fostering those connections.

I can hope.

Let’s hop on over to the other author’s pages and see what they have to say about why do I write?

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

Face The Bias – Open Book Blog Hop #287

August 23, 2021 By Captain Maiel

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

Topic #287
Do you write diverse characters? If so, how do you avoid cultural insensitivity?

There’s a faction of society who believe that representation isn’t necessary in media, including books. The false idea behind it is that a reader will imagine a character however they want, regardless of descriptions, by suspending belief and letting their imagination run in their own ways. There is also the false idea that there are writers proportionate to each group, and thus they get all they need by the numbers. However, that’s not the case, and I can tell you why: the market pushes for what sells best. Thus, the dominant group, who are conditioned to seek their likeness in media control what is seen. In addition, those who are the tastemakers, the ones in seats of power to control representation, and those who define what is ideal, have come from groups with greater opportunity. There is a lot to cover!

For the sake of this blog, I will just say that oppression, repression, historical trauma, and systemic bias makes diversity by a truly free market an impossibility. There is no such thing as a free market. Someone or some group is always in control of it, and it is planned this way by decades of systems put in place to assure it so. To deny this ignores how our market functions, and how it is deeply tied to the culture of the society, and reveals either and ignorance of it or a willfulness for it to remain as it is.

Thus, writing diverse characters becomes a bit of a conundrum for writers outside of the groups they wish to represent in their work. Write what you know. If you haven’t lived the experience of a marginalized individual, you risk your character being a caricature, which is both dangerous and insensitive to the community represented. An author has to do their due diligence when writing a character out of their wheel house.

The writer should examine to what ends they wish to have this character a part of the story. Is it because you want to tell an important story that requires their presence, or is it because you think it would be cute and fun? In other words, does the character fit the story and are they necessary? Don’t include characters simply because their appearance, vernacular, behaviors, or culture provide amusement to an audience that has greater power and privilege in the real world.

For instance, Native Americans are not your mascot. They’re people of hundreds of cultures that flourished on this continent from the great north to the deepest southern reaches of the cape for thousands of years before the land was invaded and they experienced an ongoing genocide. It is dangerous to portray them in stereotypes for humor, because this reinforces the ideas that lead to their being placed in concentration camps, had their culture stripped, their children stolen, and opportunity barred from their lives. While things have somewhat improved, this demographic experiences poverty at a higher rate than any other group due to the aforementioned history. It is not funny or necessary to have a native caricature holding space in any written work. It was unhelpful in the past and inexcusable at this time.

What can a writer do to make sure they’re not inadvertently being offensive? There’s a great deal to do beyond examining one’s own motives. Examining your bias should work in tandem with uncovering the reasons you want to portray this individual(s). However, a writer will need to be completely honest with themselves on that journey. This is especially difficult to do when you are someone who has bought deeply into and tied their own persona with the status quo of current society–wherever you fall on the political spectrum.

When the ideas we hold of others are too tightly tied to the perception we have of our reality, and have come to even frame how we identify ourselves, people will tend to explode in anger when having their bias challenged. Bias comes in so many forms. For instance, I have a bias against the wealthy which is framed from my experiences with them while working as a teenager at a Saratoga Springs resort. While this is a lived experience, it still has created what could be characterized as an unfair assumption that the wealthy are narcissistic and indifferent to others outside their closed group. Then again, it is a lived experience that hasn’t been challenged by too many proving otherwise, either!

This is the same sentiment a racist may hold toward a group they’ve chosen to feel a certain way about. They feel that those in the group haven’t proved otherwise to them. How many of these people have they honestly been close with, learned from, worked with? In many cases, racist tendencies are learned early in one’s upbringing, and reinforced by cherry-picked examples–as in, an incident occurs that reinforces the sentiment and that is focused on instead of the hundreds of other examples provided to contrary.

A good example of this is: women do lie when accusing someone of sexual misconduct, because they want something. I’ve heard this echoed from fellow survivors! It’s taught to people early on without any proof. A parent or authority figure says it and a child takes it as gospel. No further examination of the issue is undertaken, possibly ever. Thus it gets repeated and that’s all it takes to reinforce this, along with media that objectifies women and blames them for the objectification they inherit. The idea is woven into culture, and it is repeated as a truth. However, if someone went to the RAINN.org website, and read a few pages, they would find research and evidence shows that less than 2% of cases that gone before legal authorities are deemed falsehoods. Deemed being quite the operative word here. Someone decided that the victim lied, not just that it was found that they did. So each case that is thrown out as false but really isn’t also falls into this category.

There literally is such a tiny percentage of false accusations out there, it is surprising that it is given any air. The reason it does get air is because someone will quickly come along to mention innocent until proven guilty, because somehow public opinion that an accuser be believed and a case be thoroughly examined automatically creates guilt. It doesn’t and to throw this sentence around is ironic, considering that sexism or racism both function on the presumption of guilt before innocence. The premise is to preempt justice to maintain the status quo. Therefore, average people are unwitting tools for the perpetrators of sexual violence. The perps of today don’t have to do a thing, because this was established long before them. This social bias, when included in writing, further reinforces the idea and makes it possible to get away with the crime quite easily–because the accuser will most likely not be believed as the culture daily ingests these ideas from multiple avenues.

See why writing responsibly matters? No one would want to stand accused of perpetuating a system that harms others, especially in such a heinous way.

My advice to any writer who is creating outside of their zone is to spend time with those people, if you don’t already and thoroughly examine your own bias and motivations. Spend the time researching what issues affect that group and how that history shapes an individual. Their concerns throughout the day will be vastly different. Thus, the things that they tolerate, the places they will go, how they dress and express themselves will all be influenced by the issues they face. Historical trauma is personality shaping. A good character gets beyond caricature.

No one group is a monolith. There is diversity within as well. There’s so much to consider, and although diversity should easily exist within any work, those who don’t live a diverse life will find it quite difficult to accomplish a diverse cast in their work.

This said–Ripley from Aliens was initially written as a man. The screenwriter simply changed the name and Sigourney brought her to life. Think about that. We are each human. Don’t disregard that which is unique to the diverse character, but don’t over-signal these qualities either. That can get mighty messy in its own way!

I’ll never forget my fears in writing Henrietta (Blue Honor), but I hold her in my heart as a reminder that I have to think beyond what I readily know for these individuals. It may turn out terribly and it may go well, but if I take my time and understand them, I have a better shot at succeeding. Can we even succeed? Let’s just try not to do more damage. It matters. It could be a life saved.

There’s so much to say on this topic! Literal books have been written on it. I’ve written papers in my graduate studies and blog posts. I encourage authors to explore them (especially from diverse writers). Click on the links below to follow the hop and find out what the other authors have to say on this deep topic…

open book blog hop photography ad, camera with photos on a vintage map

Unlimited Marketing – Open Book Blog Hop #286

August 16, 2021 By Captain Maiel

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

Topic #286
What do you wish you had an unlimited supply of?

To be perfectly honest, I wish that I had an unlimited supply of marketing–both know-how and outlets, in which the cost never meant sacrificing for months and pinching down the grocery bill. Marketing isn’t always about knowing how to market, but having access monetarily to the outlets that can get you before the readers. And, it costs a lot to do this. Most authors can’t afford it, and therefore they struggle to find their audience. With readers scattered across the glob engaging on multiple platforms, and having interests that run the gamut, you could theoretically reach them anywhere. However, they’re not congregated at the same time and place.

Good luck to the writer seeking readers who doesn’t have a strong budget, and isn’t a natural winner. I’m entirely serious. Without the “it-factor” and without a budget, you’ll struggle a great deal. Marketing isn’t getting easier either. Larger, well-padded, companies are paying big bucks for their content to reach social media users. You’re literally competing on these platforms for views with products that aren’t even in your niche. From Film to food, your book will have to push through the noise of advertisers, and quickly grab someone’s attention to get that coveted click. And their attention isn’t unlimited. You have only seconds!

Most potential readers on any given social media platform really aren’t interested. They’re there to decompress. How they hear about new books? Word of mouth from other readers in their reading groups. How do the taste-makers and influencers hear about new books? From the big publishing house release rolls. Most likely you’re not on those. And mid level writers aren’t there either, even if they are published by a big name publisher. They promote only the top tier.

Some authors are lucky enough to rise up to the USA Today bestseller list. That’s another arena in which authors are often found. However, without sales and readers already in your pocket, you won’t get here either. I feel your frustration!

Thus, marketing is a losing strategy from the get-go. In most cases, you’re trying something others have done before you. Just because it worked for one author or even three of them, it doesn’t mean it will work for you, too. That’s why having unlimited funds and know-how, as well as outlets is imperative to the success of a writer’s career. It’s no longer about just writing a great novel. You’ll need tools beyond the scope of the creatives niche: marketing skills and likability, not just examples of other’s success.

So you might say, what about those sites that promise to put your work in front of thousands of readers? Using those book promotion sites can be helpful, but they’re costly. Most of the folks following them are other writers (who can be readers) that have no time for your book. Readers, also, don’t like to be hammered with a lot of email or advertisements. When they look for a new book, they browse a shelf (virtually or real). In my experience, banging on their door and throwing your book in their face is highly ineffective. They ignore almost all such pitches.

Let’s try something else: printing cards to have the local bookstores include in bags is a great promotional tool. It’s a small reach, yes, but gets a good base started in an appropriate space. Keep in mind: they must be of high quality! Do you know what to write on them to get a reader’s attention? You’ll need to print a lot and go to physical book spaces to drop them off. You may not always be welcome, but you must always be gracious. Understand that you’re not the only author attempting to market your book, and the sheer number of those trying these avenues may be overwhelming to staff at stores and libraries. Not to mention that some authors are just not good at socializing and may have burned the bridge before you got there. You may have to rebuild it!

Let me get you started with factors that can help you build that positive relationship with readers and staff at stores and libraries.

Just because it worked for one author or even three of them,
it doesn’t mean it will work for you, too.

Promotional items are another reason your cover matters. They’re going to see the cover of that book and if it catches their eye, they’ll look for the genre (if the cover hasn’t given it away), and then read the blurb. If your blurb isn’t up to par, it’s going to speak volumes about what the reader can expect from you.

Think of the book blurb as your sales pitch. Logline writing is a great thing to practice, not just for scripts movies. You’ll need that to drew them in. Then a short paragraph pitch about your book to hook them. It takes a lot of skill to write these, and it is an art of its own. That’s the know-how of marketing.

I honestly recommend a course in writing loglines, as well as marketing courses, for all writers. It’s not a waste of your time if you intend to sell your work. Each logline will be a unique struggle. Hopefully, with practice, you start to get to know what works, what is mediocre, and what flat out fails. It’s better to start with mediocre than to screw up with a fail. Regardless, polishing that logline is a struggle we all endure and must if we intend to make a career of writing. Did I mention unlimited patience is a great resource to have, too?

Book blurbs remain one of the biggest struggles for me in the field. How do you boil your work down to a couple epic paragraphs that will make a lot of people stop and say–I want to know more? When you’re so involved in the writing of your book, you get overwhelmed by the details. There’s a lot to tell about! But, on the blurb (back of the book or promotional postcard), you’re going to want to speak to just the basic level of the story and make a reader care.

Knowing how to write a blurb and logline, having outlets on which to promote, and the funds to do so would be for anyone who has done their due diligence to learn their craft a great service. If I could have that in endless supply, I’d be all set. The rest, I don’t mind struggling through. The pangs of writing are why I write. I don’t write to become a book marketer, and it is a tragedy that our system has evolved to force this on creatives such as authors.

Hop through the links below to find out what the other authors would love to have an unlimited supply of!

Rabbits and Such – Open Book Blog Hop #285

August 9, 2021 By Captain Maiel

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

Topic #285
Do you have a favorite piece of literature? What is it and why is it your favorite??

Did I give it away? I had to have given it away! Regardless, I’m going to tell you. But first, let’s go down a rabbit howl about my writing for a minute…

As you may or may not know, I lean toward writing dark subjects, whether that is historical fiction or fantasy. None of my books is for the faint of heart. None of my books shies from embarking on discussions of tougher subjects. Whether that topic is sexual abuse and assault, domestic violence, the horrors of war, or the struggle of the weak against the powerful, you can bet that I dive in headfirst.

This drive to talk about darker or uncomfortable topics is something that is innate to me as a person, too. I care a great deal about modern issues, which are built upon the histories of humankind. There is no escape from the ripples of effects through time. You all know that every action has a reaction (or repercussion) and it continues into infinity. Nothing is ever truly completed. That’s why trauma and it’s causes constantly flow into my works.

Historical trauma is a very real thing. For instance, I took a course tied to my day job that explored the reasons why people are and tend to stay in poverty. The biggest factor is that we learn from those who raise us. Usually, everything we learn happens in our most formative years, taught to us by family. So, logically, family teaches us what they know.

Culture varies across the economic spectrum as much as it does across the world. That culture is learned from our family. Class ideology, and worldviews are all informed by the adults showing us the way things are (whether they’re really that way or not). One of the things they inadvertently pass down is the behavior they gained to adapt/respond to trauma. Sometimes, those behaviors are generations deep, meaning that the person you learned something from didn’t necessarily experience the trauma first hand that shaped them.

Historical trauma is far more complicated than this blog entry has time to delve into, but I encourage people to explore it more. Suffice it to say, I learned that day why I am constantly panicked about the number in my bank account, as if I am suffocating and the world will fall apart if it is not high enough. Literal debilitating fear. It’s no joke. There are many other behaviors that I took note of as well. You see, my mother was raised by a teen mom at the end of the 1940s and through 1960s. My grandmother was of the depression generation.

Those things are inextricable from my thinking. I was conditioned this way and it has a big impact on the way that I maneuver the world. So, of course, darker topics of suffering are of interest to me. My father is retired military. We grew up isolated except for school. There were things that happened to me that are nightmarish. All of this shapes my behavior and the things that I focus on, as well as how I am raising my own child.

Interestingly enough, my favorite piece of literature was written by a suspected pedophile. I’m a survivor of a childhood assault. To find this out once I had already fallen in love with the story is devastating. But, I am drawn to the ideas within the story, of monsters and surreal beings. I’m in love with another world resting so close to our own. It’s almost biblical. A strange heaven or hell into which we fall if we are guided past the veil by a strange spirit’s neglect. The rabbits have left the gate open!

Rabbits abound. I had rabbits as a child–little white ones. Would I follow one? If it were dressed in a waistcoat and carried a pocket watch, you bet your bippy I would.

vintage alice in wonderland illustration stained in rainbow watercolors, alice plays croquet

Another aspect of the literature is that it harkens to the pagan ideas of animals as guides of the spirit realm. Alice is navigating a difficult period of her life. She’s somewhat coming of age. She’s too big for these daydreams, yet too young for what comes next. While Alice is schooled in the proper manners of a woman, she’s still not invited to the tea, because she’s a child. One can view the rabbit as a symbol of fertility and thus adulthood, and her chasing that idea through this surreal and unknown realm is her coming to terms with the expectations and roles of women in the world.

Alice sees the Mad Hatter as a drunk at the tea party. And there’s a hookah smoking caterpillar. So many things witnessed in childhood cannot be understood fully until we grow up. Yet, women are expected to remain childlike and innocent… Alice was facing a very strange, no win, future. Her curiosity about it all was luring her toward danger–even if that danger was rabbit shaped.

What I loved about it was the idea of travelling to an alien world that is within walking distance of our own reality. Meeting interesting folks along the way, who weren’t always people, and were definitely strange, and that echoed my sentiments of the world in which I already existed. People are so strange! Moreover, it was interesting the way that this new place defied logic, but in a way Alice had always desired. She found her home world quite illogical, but when faced with her ideas manifest, she found that it just turned to a mess. The laws of our world, which she fought to continually act upon, didn’t apply. What would it be like to travel to a place where what you thought you knew was certain got turned on it’s ear?

In many ways, my trilogy echoes these ideas. Certainly, there are no rabbits to chase, per se. Also, and this is triggering, I can’t shake that what made me susceptible to being assaulted is what also attracts me to Carroll’s work. Damn, that just gives me the creeps. It is true that pedophiles absolutely know and understand the things that children love, and they use them to gain trust and access. For instance, using cute pets like rabbits to lure children. A terrible thing. Truly evil.

Can we ever separate a work from it’s author? This question plagues many avenues of media. Monsters can make great works, but are the works worth retaining in light of the monster that fashioned them? Are we obsessed because we’re trying to figure them out (either out of morbid interest or a desire to protect ourselves)? We’re chasing these rabbits, but I don’t think we’ll ever have a sufficient answer. It’s far too uncomfortable.

I try not to let it bother me too much. I am obsessed with my ancestor’s pagan culture and Halloween! Wonderland and Halloween are full of monsters, not just rabbits, and they’re all carrying strange, if not heart-stopping, stories. The best way to keep safe from them is to know them well.

Hop on over to see what literary works the authors love…

Growing Wiser – Open Book Blog Hop #284

August 2, 2021 By Captain Maiel

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

Topic #284
What’s something you look forward to as you age?
And what do you miss from your youth?

Youth isn’t something that I found useful to my goals throughout my life. I was never taken seriously, and never had the autonomy needed to pursue those things I found worth my time, until I gained several decades in age. About all I miss from youth is the greater amount of time I to read and that someone else took care of the serious things such as bills. Stress was real, but it mostly revolved around small problems that resolved fairly easily. Of course there were things that couldn’t be resolved but they did not weigh so heavily as they do when you have the burden of all things upon your shoulder in adulthood.

The main thing that I look forward to as I age is retiring in less than a decade, if everything goes as it should. This would go a long way to returning me to reading time and less stress trying to get my to-do-list checked off. There would be time for my art hobbies and other projects, too. Unfortunately, the necessity of a day job is still very real. And, I must continue, especially now that I have a child.

table top with two cups of coffee, cream hearts in the cup, and a tablet on the table that reads: inhale the future, exhale the past. — Photo by Toa Heftiba, Unsplash. 2017

Having all those hours back to myself will be a great boon to my writing career, too. I won’t burden myself with a tougher blog schedule, but I will have more rest time and time enough to let those ideas percolate again. In addition, I’ll be able to get out more to live more life and that always helps with ideas.

Growing wiser is another attribute I hope to gain as I age. There is so much to learn! I don’t miss the ignorance of youth, or the myopia of thinking myself so informed in my thirties. Middle age has caught up to me now, but enjoy the wisdom and understanding of those years, but I know there is a long road of learning ahead. I really do hope that I become wiser.

Baby smooth skin may be gone for the rest of my life, but it’s not something that preys on my mind. Neither do I worry over white hairs. Lines on a face and silver hair are beautiful. They mean a life lived. They mean wisdom. There is so much charm in faces of all ages. They shouldn’t be judged for not having the perfect twenty-something look. That time is so fleeting and far too early to stake all one’s dreams and aspirations into. What truly matters is one’s mind and one’s peace.

Getting to sit in the sunshine and sip my coffee on mornings that are once again on my terms will be so relaxing. Those days where I have responsibilities that take me away won’t be anxiety inducing unless what’s taking me away is a serious appointment about serious things. The fact is, we cannot escape hard times and stress, but not having a job stressing you out on top of it is a bonus! Although this may lead to more isolation, I am the kind of person who does need more alone time than most. I get exhausted by being around others. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s just because I know I have so much to do and I cannot do it in that moment, giving my attention to others. And the longer that things wait, the longer the list gets, and waiting can add additional steps.

The idea that youth or old age are inherently better than the other is based on ideas that there are benefits without a downside. As we age, our health can grow more fragile, but so in youth can health be fragile. I have experienced immune compromised status for as long as I can remember. I’ve been sick a lot! That won’t change. Although my red will fade to silver and my skin gain creases, I know I will still be the loveliest I have ever been, because I am still me. Sure, it is frustrating to get discoloration on your face, and watch your texture change along with pores growing more prominent. However, that’s all based in the idea that others are judging you negatively for these things. Media certainly doesn’t help that notion.

What media ignores, however, is the experiences that years give a person to make them wiser. Not every young person is ignorant not every elder is wiser. That said, you’re more likely to find deep, useful wisdom in an elder. Listen to their stories. Stop regarding their gray hair and wrinkles as something to fear and revile. Youth should last so much longer than it does, but not the learning curve of life. Listen to the young, too. They have some great ideas and insight. Their energy carries us all forward. Try not to get in their way as they move to accomplish goals that will better our world. That’s their job, and they’re quite good at it when allowed to without fearful elders wagging fingers and fighting to keep things as they are.

Certainly not all change is an improvement, but neither is stagnation a benefit to life. Let us grow wiser in this.

We all age. There’s no fighting against it. More than anything, I look forward to my time returned to me, so I can continue to create and maybe regain peace of mind, like I had in my youth.

***

Click on the links below to continue the blog hop through the other author contributions…