Duncan Lay's Blog, page 6

One of my Saxon warrior friends asked me my thoughts on the Death Of The Book. My first instinct was to say: Never! Then I added a few more thoughts ...  Is the book dead, or dying?
Well, reports of its death have been drastically exaggerated.
It’s true that book sales are generally down – for instance, even with the surge of interest for Game of Thrones, Australian fantasy sales are down roughly 10%.
But there are other reasons for that, including the loss of many specialist bookshops and the general retail slowdown. People are saving their pennies for a rainy day, rather than spending them and that’s true across every retail category.
Secondly, are we talking about physical books or are we including eBooks? Because if we include eBooks then the numbers are certainly not down. People are downloading free eBooks in huge numbers – and buying eBooks in respectable numbers as well.
Certainly there will be a degree of migration across to eBooks from the traditional format. As well as being cheaper, the available range of eBooks is much greater. Stores cannot carry the massive number of titles released each year, let alone those previously published. With the collapse of Borders and Angus & Robertson, the day of the massive bookshop is over.
So, albeit in a different format, the book will never die.
But there is plenty of hope for the traditional book as well. Retail will recover – it is the cyclical nature of things. People will begin making more discretionary purchases again, rather than essentials.
Above all, there is a hunger for reading. Whether it is fantasy, autobiography, fiction or high literature, people enjoy losing themselves in a book. I go out to stores and find people excited to meet an author and eager to talk about books.
The emphasis on children reading is, if anything, even stronger than before. And there are more children’s books being released, encouraging boys and other reluctant readers to keep reading for pleasure.
As these children get older, they will see reading as less of a leisure activity and more of an essential.
Reading opens our eyes and expands our minds and the emphasis placed on it in schools will only help the industry.
For the next 10-20 years they will be doing that mainly with real books but, no matter what format they are reading, no matter what eReader or tablet or device not yet invented they choose, the book will go on.
The Gutenberg Press is widely credited with helping inspire the Renaissance and dragging Europe out of the dark ages.
If the book ever died, that is where we would return.

As I finish off the copy edit for Wall of Spears, I was asked if I had any advice for budding authors who are trying to get their work ready for submission.As sending in your book far too early is a crime that every author is guilty of, here's my top 10 tips for rewiring and editing.  1)      Re-read until you are absolutely sick of reading your work and feel you must hurl something out of a window. Then do it once more.
2)      Try to add layers each time you go through the book. One rewrite can be totally from the perspective of a particular main character. Then go back and rewrite from all the other characters’ perspectives, taking into account the changes you have made.
3)      Isolate the minor characters. Pull out all the sections featuring one of them and copy into a separate document. Read that and see if they are consistent/interesting/important to the story. Makes changes if you have to.
4)      Try and write over your word limit. Put in everything you can. It doesn’t matter if not all of it works, you can trim it out later. But working through a manuscript you know is 10-20,000 words over the limit forces you to be ruthless with every sentence.
5)      Use CTRL+F to check on repeated words. I fall into the trap of using words such as roared, groaned, grumbled far too much. CRTL+F finds all those instances. It can be surprising and a little horrifying to see how many times you’ve used a certain word. And it highlights times when you’ve used it 2-3 occasions on the same page – another no-no.
6)      Check your chapter spacing. When you’re moving stuff around, you can have very long chapters sometimes. Trim and/or break into two.
7)      Stop and think about plot. Is it logical? Is there another way for the action to move forwards? Have you got internal as well as external conflict?
8)      Stop and think and characters. Are they behaving consistently. Are you forcing them to do things they normally wouldn’t? Or, worse, are they justifying themselves endlessly?
9)      Put the computer away for a fortnight. Keep a pad by your bed instead to make notes as your brain works through things.
10)   Be ruthless with subplots. If they’re not working, ditch them.

Here's a little puzzler for you ... one of these three scenarios DOES happen in Wall Of Spears.
Can you guess which one?
And which one would you most want to see?
All of them are possible, all are plausible - but only one actually happens.
Sadly, don't expect me to give any honest answers on this one, because you'll just have to wait until February, when Wall Of Spears is out, to find out for sure!

1) Asami vs Rhiannon in a smack-down magic fight
2) Sendatsu vs Gaibun in a no-holds-barred sword fight
3) Retsu vs Jaken in a bloody fight to the death


And there will definitely be no hints as to who wins any of these!

Now this may not be the absolutely finished version but HarperCollins said they loved it, so I think it'll be pretty close!
Please, let me know what you think:

It is time to decide who will rule the lands and control the magic. Will it be Forland, with its lust for bloody conquest. Will it be Dokuzen, with its dreams of a slave empire, or will it be Vales, armed only with Rhiannon and her magic - and the truth about why the rulers of Dokuzen claim to be elves.

Into this mix comes Sendatsu. Rejected by his true love, hated by his father, hunted by his former best friend, he now burns with the desire to build a better world for his children.

Betrayal follows lies follows more betrayal as the true power behind the vicious struggle is revealed. The fate of all the lands rests on a sword's edge...

So what should I write next?
I know there are plenty of people who want to see a second series involving Martil, Karia and Merren from The Dragon Sword Histories. Their journey had taken them to a certain point but there were still unanswered questions, especially around Barrett, the magician.
If I did write that series, I hope the first book’s title would be The Bitter Mage.
But I am not ready to write that one yet. Maybe next time …
For this new series, I am tossing up a couple of ideas. There’s two ways I can go.
I would really appreciate some feedback on this – after all, you are the ones that I hope will be looking forward to reading them!
Ultimately, of course, I will be guided by what HarperCollins is interested in!
The first series feels like two books, but if I dig deeper into the planning, it may well come out to be a trilogy.
Loosely – very loosely – based on the Japanese tale of The 47 Warriors, it asks the question of just what is a man prepared to do, how far will he take revenge. And is honour, and revenge, more important than family? When the two collide, what will win out?
This series will take you to the land of Nippon, where the Elfarans first landed and thrived, then took ship from to arrive in Vales.
When a man’s friend and lord is betrayed and killed, a lord he swore an oath to protect with his life, he must go to extreme lengths to gain revenge and expose the evil festering in the land of Nippon. But what if it costs him his family. What if he has to give up everything he is, everything he loves to fulfil his oath …
The second series – and one that I have been thinking about for a while – is definitely a trilogy.
You may well be aware that I like to take a fantasy cliché on and twist it around, send it up slightly. The first series was a gentle send-up of the whole magic sword cliché. Empire Of Bones sends up the elves in fantasy cliché.
This series would have a little play with the whole supernatural creatures trope.
People are disappearing. Boats return empty, even whole villages are vanishing. The King and the Church are claiming it must be demons or something equally sinister. But one man believes there is a far more human explanation.
And when his wife is one of the ones taken, he starts a journey that will tear down a kingdom and expose a foulness buried deep in his land that is darker and more revolting than the Church’s claims of a plague of demons.
But a revolution will be merely the beginning of his troubles …
Let me know what you think!

Writing those lovely words: The End, to finish off my Empire Of Bones series was an incredible feeling.
But there were mixed emotions.
Of course I was delighted, and relieved, and proud of finishing a series that has sold so well, received so many glowing reviews and has occupied my thoughts for nearly four years now.
According to the Microsoft Word stats, I spent a total of 104,513 minutes working on Wall Of Spears. That’s more than 1741 hours, or about 72 days straight.
And that was the book that took me the least amount of time, with the least number of rewrites of the three!
Altogether it is a frightening total, and does not include the time spent reading hard copy printouts, either, nor thinking time. That is purely fingers-to-keyboard minutes.And while it's now sitting in HarperCollins' hands, it's not quite finished yet. There is still the production process to go through.The publisher might suggest some tweaks, as will the copy editor, while the proof readers are sure to find something. Still, finishing it to that level was very satisfying.
But I was a little sad, as well. These are characters I know well and it is sad to be saying goodbye to them, even though their journey is over and they are in a better place than when they started (except for the dead ones, obviously …!)
It is time to start thinking about the next journey to take.
And it is not a decision to be taken lightly. This last series took three years of my life. I expect any new series to occupy a similar time frame – or perhaps longer.
More on that shortly.

You may well have read an earlier post about what the late, great UK fantasy author David Gemmell means to me.
It was a copy of his debut work Legend that got me into reading fantasy.
He was a newspaper editor in Sussex before he became a writer; I lived in Sussex until I was 16 and then became a newspaper editor before becoming a writer.
I was devastated to hear of his early death from a heart attack.
When Australian Bookseller + Publisher compared me to Gemmell, it was a proud moment.
Now Bridge Of Swords has been longlisted for the David Gemmell Legend Award, which recognises the best heroic fantasy worldwide.
If you've read Bridge Of Swords and enjoyed it; if you think it fits the description of heroic fantasy, then please log onto the awards site and vote.
It would be very much appreciated.
The link is below:

http://www.gemmellaward.com/page/2323348:Page:17503

If you're a budding author, then I'm sure you've either gone through courses or at least read a few books about writing.
I don't think I have any insights beyond what is already available on the internet. But I can tell you what works for me.
If anyone asks me advice about writing, I always tell them the best thing is to keep writing. The more you write, the better you get at it.
Obviously you need to have the strongest characters you can create. Great characters always trump a great story. If you can have a great story as well, then you are laughing!
Yet I also feel there's more to the process than ``just'' coming up with great characters and storylines.
I try to write with emotion.
I have written before about how I write on the train, as I commute to and from Sydney. As I write, I listen to music on the iPod. But I do try and match what I am listening to, to what I am going to write.
As I have said before, something like Coldplay works well for me during character scenes, while a spoty of AC/DC's Thunderstruck is fantastic for a battle.
But I also try to recall emotions from films.
Now these don't have to be an inspiration for your book. They don't even have to be anywhere near the same genre. But they do have to evoke something in you. You can stumble on these by chance or you can go searching for them. You can build up a personal memory bank of these films, and what they evoke in you.
The choice is yours.
What I like to do is then recall them when I'm writing, to tap into what they stirred within me, and try to communicate some of that into the writing.
Now I'm not saying you rip off a bunch of scenes from random movies and rewrite them.
No, I'm only talking about the emotion YOU feel. Pick up on that and invest that into your writing.
Different films mean different things to different people.
But, to give you an example: one of the strong undercurrents in Bridge Of Swords is Sendatsu's desire to get back to his children and his willingness to do anything for them.
There were two films in particular that I recalled during writing that book.
One was A Very Long Engagement, where Audrey Tautou searches for her lover who disappeared into the horror of World War I. In particular the end, when she finds him, the culmination of years of searching, and the way she walks out to him  ``and sits and watches''. You don't see an emotional reunion but I feel the longing, the overwhelming relief, the desire to throw yourself at them and yet contain all that because they wouldn't understand.
A second was Inception and the very end, when Leonardo DiCaprio returns to his children and starts to check to see if this is all a dream - and then walks away before his control device can give him the answer. Because, at that point, he doesn't care if it is a dream or not. He is reunited with his children and that is all that matters.
It doesn't matter if you watch those films and feel nothing. They meant something to me and so I tried to invest that into the writing.
This whole technique may mean nothing to you - but I use it all the time. If you can put real emotion into the writing, you can invest it with a little more truth.
Yes, I know this is fantasy I write - but it still needs some truth.
Of course you don't need to get those emotions from film - but it adds something I feel. Emotions from songs are powerful, from real life are also powerful but, to me, movies can be visually recalled easily. I replay that scene, tap into what it makes me feel and then write.
It works for me - and you are welcome to try it!
 

The end of Bridge of Swords saw the death of several `main’ characters – principally some of the `evil’ ones. The action principally took place in Vales, as well.
In book two of Empire Of Bones, Valley Of Shields, you will see far more of Dokuzen, the home of the “elves”, or Elfarans to give them their real name.
You will also meet new enemies for Sendatsu, Huw and Rhiannon to face – and the end of the book will finally tell you who the real villain of the series is.
You will also meet three new characters, a trio of Forlish soldiers known as Caelin, Harald and Ruttyn. At first they may seem like comic relief, and a source of the humour that I try to weave through all my books. That is true, to a certain extent but they have a vital role to play not just in this book but also in the concluding book of the series, Wall Of Spears.
In Valley Of Shields, you will also see far more of Sendatsu’s true love Asami, his best friend and her husband Gaibun and Sendatsu’s father Jaken, as well as his mother Noriko.
The people of Dokuzen are split into three power blocs, all manoeuvring to take the top spot. Into this potent mix of treachery and betrayal comes the first humans in 300 years – Rhiannon and Huw, as well as Sendatsu.
Things are about to change and the barrier of lies that has surrounded Dokuzen for three centuries is about to be torn down.