Writers Can Be Artist Too

As a novel writer, I believe that it is a good idea to draw pictures. Any author would be well served to have a defined mental picture of your characters that you can refer to while writing. It is also a good idea because you can do as I do and occasionally release them as promotional material. If you are a science fiction and fantasy writer and have created an entirely new world for you characters to inhabit then it is a good idea to draw pictures of those created worlds. That way you have a visual image that you can refer to when discussing that world in your novel.

Even if you are not good at drawing, it is a good idea to have some form of picture of your characters and your setting. Whether you take inspiration for you character from a television show or movie, it is a good idea to keep a picture of that person readily available. When the referring to that character or location while on the third or fourth book in the series and the details begin to get a little fuzzy, you always have a solid picture to rely on. Because, let’s face it, when you write a lot then not every detail will be remembered with complete accuracy over the course of a long series. The last thing you need is for your main character to start the series with blue eyes and then by the fifth book have green eyes, for example. That is a detail that the reader will pick up on and violently jar them out of your story and possibly cause them to fall out of love with your book and with you as a writer.

Character Profile – Thame, Heaven’s Fate

Taken from the glossary of the sequel to Heaven’s Fate, the highly anticipated second book in the Heaven Trilogy: Winter’s Legacy; the definition of Thame Elliot aka Snow:

His mother died giving birth. His father, Alex Elliot was murdered when he was twelve. He was raised by his father’s childhood classmate, Autumn Augustus. After learning who murdered his father, Thame carried out a savage revenge. In his wake, an evil twin emerged that now threatens to cover the world in darkness. Thame will do whatever it takes to track down Miles Xavier and bring him to justice.

The second novel is due to be released in the fall of 2013. When I first came up with the idea for Heaven’s Fate I was a sophomore in college. Back then I was convinced this title would turn into a comic book or maybe a cartoon; since at the time I drew heavy influences from the anime Dragon Ball Z. As the idea for the story continued to develop and the characters were fleshed out, it took almost a decade for all of the pieces to fall together properly in order to form the 90k word debut fantasy epic that is currently available. Not to mention the countless amount of time spent learning how to construct a proper novel, the hours upon hours spent reading and re-reading the finished product, only to send it off to my editor and go through the process all over.

Ideas go through several stages before the finished product reaches the customer. I don’t think readers realize how much actually goes on behind the scenes to put a work of fiction entertainment together; hell, I did not even know all of the work and strenuous hours that would be required of me before undertaking this process. I never really understood the mantra of being a ‘starving artist’ until I actually became a starving artist (and let me tell you, after nights on end of eating ramen noodles I have the high blood pressure to show that I have earned that title) because when you are younger, (and growing up I was always an artist, drawing this or that and doodling in class) you think that you are a starving artist and you think that it is so cool to be out in the world and pursuing your dreams. Those cold and lonely nights when you only have your ideas to keep you warm and fuel you to keep going, the term sinks in and has more weight to it. It means a lot more when you are actually going through it. But I guess that is with anything right, in order to understand something fully you have to go out and actually experience it, participate in the things that were wispy yet grand ideas in the days of your childhood.

With that being said, I hope you enjoy the book.

For those of you who missed your chance to win a free, signed copy of Heaven's Fate you just might be in luck. Be sure to check in with Indie Author News (http://www.indieauthornews.com/) on March 4, 2013 for my new exclusive interview and your chance to get a copy of Heaven's Fate which will be the Book of the Day and stop by for your chance to win.