By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender, guest blogger
http://www.authorsandylender.com
When you write a single novel, you’ve got to keep track of characters’ descriptions and “trademark gestures,” settings, special décor, funny quirks in neighborhoods or families, and the list goes on. If you write fantasy as I do, you suddenly have extraordinary quirks and “rules” to pay attention to. If you state in chapter seven that a creature summoned by a wizard for a training exercise in a special training arena must remain within the confines of that training arena, then you better present a good reason for a summoned creature stepping outside of that arena’s circle in chapter fifteen. Readers are going to notice if you break your own rules. They’re going to be confused if the matriarch of your family has green eyes throughout the first two-thirds of the novel, only to suddenly look at something with her blue eyes sparkling like an ocean’s surface on page 400+.
You get the idea.
Now imagine all these details multiplied by three for a trilogy. Or multiplied by four for a trilogy with a prequel (yes, that’s in the works for me). Or multiplied by five for a trilogy with a prequel and a sequel being written by one of the main characters. Criminy!
As an author with all that to keep track of, I keep files on the computer, but I don’t rely on them. I live a pretty paranoid life, so I consider the computer a fallible device. Corrupt files and crashes occur. Backing things up happens when I remember to do it because I haven’t been able to afford fancy dancy software to make backup instantaneous for a while. My systems seem almost archaic to me.
Instead, I keep folders and spiral notebooks where I’ve written out full of character sketches. My host enjoys the tactile sensation. I have a recipe box full of vocabulary words for my Ungol race and for place names in my fantasy world. I have print-outs of short stories and legends so I don’t have to hunt & peck on the computer to find them amid all the files of stories and novellas that are ongoing for the world of Onweald.
Then there are my visual aids. I have a large desk calendar covered with post-it notes and scribbles, white-out smears and taped-on notecards that lays out the events as they occur for the main story of the CHOICES series. It would probably be a mess for anyone to walk in and stare at, but I can turn to “our” September and pinpoint the days when both moons in Onweald are waning and tell you what the Arcanan Army is doing that evening. I also have that gorgeous map that the award-winning Southwest Florida artist Megan Kissinger made for me. She took a scribbly sketch of nothingness that I’d “drawn” and turned it into the world of Onweald. It now appears at the front of CHOICES MEANT FOR GODS
That’s how I keep track of details. Tons of notes, notebooks, notecards, visual aids, a few computer files…these are vital for consistency and speed when working. They’ll make the editing process go more smoothly as well!
“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”
A Tense Little Excerpt From Choices Meant for Kings
By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender
*You won’t find this excerpt anywhere except Sandy’s current online book tour…As the soldier stepped toward him, Nigel reached out his arm and caught him by the neck. He slammed the captain against the far wall. He pinned him there with his body, leaning against the man as if he could crush the wind from him with his presence.
He brought his face close to the soldier’s ear and spoke lowly, fiercely, so that no one could have overheard him. The menace and intent behind the words was as surprising to the captain as the words themselves.
“I asked you to accompany [Chariss] on this journey tomorrow because I have faith in your sword, and until this moment I trusted you to keep your distance from her. Now, I find her down here at your side with a look upon your face that suggests more than you realize. So help me, Naegling, the only thing that stays my hand is how displeased she would be if she learned that I sliced you open.”
“The look you see is merely my concern for her honor. Nothing more.”
“I’m not a fool. And I’ll use every last piece of Arcana’s treasury to pay the prophets to justify my reasons for marrying that woman, so you can unconcern yourself with her honor.”
Hrazon stepped off the staircase then and saw Nigel pressed against his guard.
“I still believe you’re one of the best soldiers Arcana’s ever seen,” Nigel continued, “and I want you at her side for this journey, but, so help me, Naegling, she comes back alive and well and not confused in the least about her affections for me, or I will string you up from a tree in the orchard and attach your intestines to your horse’s saddle before I send it—”
Hrazon cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Is there an issue here I should address?”
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6 comments ↓
Yes. Readers will realize. But sometimes it really is difficult to keep track of everything! Plus, it takes longer to write the story than read it (with luck!!) lol and page 200 is a lot closer to 350 that way.
I like your idea of notebooks, though. Easier to go back and forth with those details.
Good morning! Thank you for hosting me today during my online book tour! I’m out alerting the masses that we’re here and looking forward to answering any questions from folks…you know…like just how late I was up typing that article to have the errors in it that I do. *sigh* I really AM a professional…it just doesn’t always show.
*maniacal laughter here*
Sandy Lender
“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”
Good morning, Isabel,
Yes, the readers get to cruise through the story much more quickly than the author does! Good point!
Sandy Lender
“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”
Sandy -
As always, I enjoy your point of view on things. So true when it comes to keeping track of your own mind. I tend to write better and keep track of my notes better when they are handwritten. Yep, love the old school methods so much better. Thanks again for sharing.
Blessings!
Mags,
The only problem with my handwritten notes is the way my handwriting has changed over the years. I think another personality must have been writing some of this stuff because today’s personality has some trouble reading it…criminy.
Sad story: a moron “lost” one of my computers, complete with its files, in a storage container debacle when we first moved to Florida (long story…involves a stash of certified letters I found unopened) so stuff that I can hold onto personally is the way I like to go…even if I have trouble reading the handwriting later. He he he.
Glad to see you here, my dear!
Sandy Lender
“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”
Sandy I heard from another author recently who also uses recipe boxes to keep track of characters, etc.
I wonder do publishers offer free recipe boxes as an added incentive. (LOL) I love the map idea, that’s brilliant to have a visual.
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