On The Darkness and the New Author by C.C.Cole

As I’ve stated in prior articles, when I began my writing journey, my husband said, “Great writers read great writers.”  I tried to take in some non-Moby Dick Herman Melville, but got bogged down on page five.  It took a lot of time for me to slowly absorb the great writers that I’m continuing to enjoy.  My hard science education left a gaping hole when it came to literature.

When “Apocalypse Now Redux” came on cable a year or two ago, I finally decided to sit down and watch it, beginning to end.  When it was first released I had no desire to see it and in retrospect I was too young to see such a movie.  But no doubt, seeing it recently, it was a four-out-of-four star film.  It is dark, compelling, and disturbing; the message it carried rang through loud and clear; to me, that’s good storytelling.  (Not addressing the bull scene issue.)

So I go to bed and tell my husband that I finally joined the rest of the planet by watching the famous, controversial, critically acclaimed film.  Then he told me:  The film wasn’t about the Vietnam War.  It’s based on a story called “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad.  What?  “Heart of Darkness?”  Why am I the last to know these things?  There goes my lovely science/math education again.  I had never heard of one of the most famous novellas ever written.

The next step was to cure myself of literary ignorance, so I downloaded it on my kindle for free.  Like other classics, it’s beyond a simple review, being one of the most complex stories I’ve ever read.  Nothing about this novella is light reading, and I didn’t buzz through it like I usually do with other books.  Referencing my prior article on book eating:  I didn’t eat this book.   It ate me.  The writing itself is complex and laborious.

For those that haven’t read “Heart of Darkness,” don’t be concerned that I’m writing spoilers, because this isn’t the kind of story that has spoilers.  The setting is in the Congo Free State in the late 1800’s, ruled by King Leopold II of Belgium.  The narrator is on a riverboat steaming deep into the jungle to find Kurtz, one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read.  Some say “the darkness” is a combination of 1) entering the physical darkness of such a wilderness 2) seeing and experiencing the human atrocities committed at the time 3) facing the inner darkness that we carry within ourselves. 

After reading it, I turned off the kindle, and sat silent for about ten minutes.  My husband asked me what I thought.  I didn’t have an immediate answer.  I was horrified, disturbed, but fascinated at the same time.  It takes a whopper of a story to leave me speechless, but this one did.

So what does “Heart of Darkness” have to do with the new author?  It’s a classic, and it’s a story so dark it drops the reader all the way down. It functions as a reminder of the horrifying atrocities during the time.   From an author’s standpoint, I’d call it a gold standard for dark novels.   For a novella, the questions it leaves unanswered is every bit as disturbing as the details in the story.

So again, go forth, new authors, and if you have a little time, consider taking in this famous novella if you’ve never read it.  It won’t excite you, and it sure won’t make you laugh.  Whether you like it or not, it will make you think. 

And when you hear someone say “The horror, the horror!”  Now you know where it came from.

On the YA Fantasy Frenzy by C.C.Cole

As the saying goes “You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting….etc. has now transformed into “You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting YA fiction.”  Please, for the easily offended, I have nothing against cats, just using an old descriptive term.  Many of my Tweeps write YA, my FB friends write YA, and I write YA.  Exceptions exist amongst my virtual new author colleagues; some of the horror genre authors and William Butler’s work is not YA.

I went to google (who doesn’t these days?) to find the definition of YA (Young Adult).  Like most YA sites, the main definition is the age of the lead character, age 14-21 on several sites.  Also included are the growth and rite-of-passage elements with a positive note in the ending to show character growth into adulthood, or realization of some of life’s hard lessons.  Peer pressure, heartbreak from young love, body image, and relationships with adults also factor into YA fantasy.

While thinking about this topic, I found myself back-pedaling to why I thought of the reasons behind YA popularity these days.  It makes sense to get into young people’s stories following the mass success of “Harry Potter” and “Twilight.”  But thinking further, I’m not so sure.  Not that the popularity of the above series doesn’t help; these books got young people into the bookstores and on line purchasing books. 

To me, our adolescent years define much of what we are as adults.  It’s a time of so many “firsts” like first date, first love, first kiss (and other...keeping it rated G here), and first car (if we’re lucky).  During this period of our lives is when we make many first choices.  We have some choice of our classes in junior high/high school.  We choose college, and our major or choose not to attend college. Lifetime friendships are sometimes begun in adolescence.  Other “firsts” include introduction to drugs, alcohol, and part-time jobs.  With so much self-identity made during these years, it makes sense to create stories around them. 

Now think about it, new authors:  What a great template to create a story!  Young girl meets hottie guy in high school that’s a protective vampire.  Nerd kid in junior high becomes a great wizard.  A group of kids find themselves in another world, to become respected warriors with noble titles.  A teenage slave soldier transcends from killer to a normal person (the message of my Gastar novellas).  One could use mainstream, medieval, urban, dystopian, or any other backdrop to reflect the changes we recall during our own adolescence. 

Adolescence is a time of milestones.  When I look through my old photographs, most of them were taken between the ages of 14 and 21.  It’s not that the latter years didn’t matter as much, but the points in time that determine who we are later in life can be tracked back to that age group.  I suspect many of us new authors that write YA fiction can easily relate to those days, yielding thought-provoking, entertaining fiction.

So when I read another YA novel by a new author, I don’t consider it a negative because of the immense popularity.  Whatever the backdrop, the plot always moves in directions we can all identify with:  The fun, excitement, and pain of adolescence.  YA is OK.

Review of “Light the Dark Day” by Chris Robertson

“Light the Dark Day” by Chris Robertson is an entertaining group of short stories on the dark side of fiction.  Though not for the faint of heart, I could not put it down until finished, and wanted to keep turning the pages for more!  I recommend this work for horror/noir fans, or anyone that looking for a bit of jolt that’s disturbing enough to keep you interested.  Four stars!

Review of “Toonopolis: Gemini” by Jeremy Rodden (illustrated by Cami Woodruff) by C.C.Cole

“Toonopolis” is a story taking an adventure seen commonly in kids’ books to a new level in a completely unique world.   I admit, I’ve never read anything like it. The world is full of far-out, but fun, entertaining characters, along with some danger element that’s not pushed out of the circle for young people.  I suggest that parents check this out for your kids; to me, it’s well-written, entertaining, and well worth the time and space of a book collection of any age.  Four stars!

On Finding Your Audience for the New Author by C.C.Cole

Like I’ve stated in the past, when my first novella of the Gastar Series came out in 2009, I hired a publicist to help me get started marketing my book.  While I understand the content of dark fantasy is not for everyone, we decided to cast a wide net to look for potential readers not immersed into playing WarCraft, with no time to read. (While it looks fun, I admit stupidity that I don’t understand it enough to play…how pathetic!)

The process was not simple, not cheap, and partially effective.  It did score me some nice blog interviews like with “Novel Journey” and a nice article surfaced on Sheknows.com about domestic violence, and how to guided me to the path of becoming an author.  This concerned me, and still does, because I didn’t want to use my sister’s death as a publicity tool.  After discussion with my immediate family members, I recall what my mother said, “if it helps a single person get out of such a situation, then it’s worth it and your sister would agree.”  The family support helped a lot, but I don’t bring up her death except when asked and I’ve mentioned it in blog articles.

After much money paid to the publicist, with some sales, I needed to somehow kick through the clear-steel ceiling of the dark fantasy readers.  I found many categories:  The Harry Potter readers, the Twilight readers, and the ones left over that read medieval dark fantasy, usually LOTR fans.  The dark fantasy genre is tough to break through; the above books dominate a lot of the readers’ market, and the competition is vast, including “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which I’m now reading.  Though these books are competition, they’re not roadblocks; bestsellers will always be around, and if some of them are dark fantasy, it means readers remain interested in the genre. 

While blogging away, seeking out blogs to solicit reviews, feature my blog, reviewing other books, I stumbled into a genre I haven’t thought about:  The Horror genre.  To me, these books are divided into two big categories:  Vampire and Non-Vampire horror.  I’ve been downloading many of the works of these Indie writers and found some excellent stories, though some of them are quite “horrifying” as they’re supposed to be.  As far as readers from the Horror genre, while many of them don’t read dark fantasy as a first choice, but some tend to like some dark fantasy stories.  Many horror authors follow me on Twitter, and I applaud their work that I’ve reviewed.

So, new authors, how do we flush out our audience so we’re not promoting dark fantasy (any genre) to a disinterested readers’ market?  Answer: The only way to find out is through aggressive but careful social networking and promotion.  We have to keep going, because once we give up, then the game is over.  The digital age is here, and our Indie books sell.  No, it doesn’t make us billionaires, but continues to be gratifying; it that weren’t the case, every Indie writer would only write one book.

So again, new authors, find your audience. I’m not suggesting that you spend your life’s saving on a publicist; the social network experts are out there to help and keep the financial costs down.  For me, I’ve enjoyed many horror novels I wouldn’t have thought about reading in the past, and some horror authors have been very supportive of my work.  Keep casting out the net, but give a something back to other new authors, and your writing journey will continue.  Nobody can stop it but you.

On Motivation and the New Author by C.C.Cole

While many writers are out there earning a living by their work, many of us new authors write when we have time and keep our lights on by working our jobs and taking care of loved ones.  I'm one of the latter authors, with a demanding career, and by the time I get home, sometimes I go straight to bed with exhaustion.

Besides the "day job" like other people, I get distracted from writing by personal issues, migraine headaches, films, reading books by either other new authors, bestsellers, and classics.  But at one time or another, I have to take time out and work on my own writing.  The "Gastar" series is four novellas when completed and two published.  I love writing Shevata's story, but loving writing doesn't make it easy.  Every time I sit down to write, I appreciate other authors more.

Logic could state that "Hey, with little fantasy novellas, what's so hard about that?"  Well, the fun of writing the fantasy genre is that the author gets to make up everything.  The hardest part of writing fantasy is making up everything.  In fiction, the author must be cautious in designing the world, and if too much is left to be taken for granted, readers can't find the story.  To me, over-embellishments leads to sleepytime.

We new authors have our own back-stories about what events put us on this writing journey, but what keeps us motivated to write?  Gigantic sales?  Well, sure, but most new authors don't have that.  Great reviews?  Sure!  Encouraging fans?  Sure!

What really motivates us new authors is our desire to write, and when we work, we have to make time for it.  As I've stated in interviews, I take my laptop and put something on TV that may be a historic documentary or a film I've seen a hundred times.  I don't want surprises while writing unless it arises from the manuscript.  Background routine helps me resolve my daily stress and open my mind into the Gastar series to allow scenes I "see" to be dropped into words.

So for the part-time new authors earning a living, or taking care of families, or both, find out what works for you to keep the creative sector of your imagination fresh for your work.  If you're one of those disciplined writers who count how many thousands of words they write a day, you have my friendly envy and admiration.  For me, I love my boring lifestyle and my exciting world of writing fiction that I can claim to be my own.

No Spoilers: Review of “A Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin by C.C.Cole

I wrote a prior article when I began reading George R. R. Martin’s series “A Song of Ice and Fire” about the creation of an epic.  When I started reading “A Game of Thrones” I applauded, and still applaud the method which Martin tells this very complex epic tale.  For the so many that have already read these books, and for those curious like me because of the cable series, I will not be re-telling this story. 

The first book of this series held my interest and Martin created a very complex world filled with the various casts of humans, with the upper-class royalty or nobles as the main characters.  Speaking of main characters, this single book has more characters to me, than it really requires telling the story, but in epic tales this kind of background is important and enriches the story.  It’s an effort to keep the characters straight, but it’s worth it.  Nothing about this book/series is for the casual reader, and I’m used to plowing through a book in a day or two, this one took me four days of concentrated reading.  (Less time than “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen took; probably partly is my preference for action/dark fantasy, and partly that I think Martin’s story is more entertaining than “Freedom.”)  But that’s subjective opinion; not everyone likes dark fantasy, and not everyone likes “blaming on the suburbs” stories.

A note to parents, and the easily offended:  “A Song of Ice and Fire” is not a series for small children.  Some gore factor is present, and there’s a fair amount of adult material.  As an adult, I didn’t find it offensive, and creating families of characters with taboos including incestuous relationships and bastard children bring intrigue into the epic, and one does not need to search long to find such customs in historic cultures.  I see so far characters/cultures that remind me of the Huns, the Roman Emperor Caligula, the Byzantines, and Renaissance cultures.  Others better at history than I am are likely to find more or different; but really those type of details strengthen the story without the need of absolute accuracy, which is part of what draws readers into the dark fantasy genre.

This book is full of admirable characters, hateful characters, and immature characters that make mistakes.  Out of all of them, the dwarf character called “The Imp” is one of the most intriguing and offers a bit of humor to an otherwise serious epic story. 

As a new author, I know better than to compare this brilliant, detailed, dark fantasy work to my own books, other than the Gastar series is not an epic.  My stories focus on a single character that follows her journey within herself to become part of humanity.  However, I enjoyed “A Game of Thrones” (better than the cable series).  I believe new authors, especially in dark fantasy can learn from this very popular epic and look forward to reading the subsequent books (between Indie books, of course).  Five stars!