imagination and writing

July 5 2017

Beauty and the Beast: How to Write History Within a Fantasy Book

Elaine Cougler Writing Life guest post Wednesday, history and vampires, imagination and writing

Today we’re looking at history in a very different way. Author Rosemary A Johns has joined me here to give her take on the links between history and–can you believe it?–vampires. Yes, you read that right. Vampires. Ever since Anne Rice’s Vampire Lestat, readers have loved to take a journey into the nether worlds created by authors walking a bit on the dark side. Don’t you just love how the imagination grabs an idea and wonderful books are born?

Make sure you read through to the end as there I’ve linked to her book trailer for the series. You’ll love it. Thanks so much, Rosemary, for joining us here today.

I’m passionate about history – I always have been. My Postgrad is in history from Oxford University. I’m also a fantasy writer who loves to challenge the world around me by seeing it through the eyes of the paranormal. Luckily for me (?) history and fantasy weave together beautifully, just like Beauty and the Beast.

Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by vampires. The myths. The **history behind the myths. Living for centuries and witnessing the best and worst of all humanity but only as the outsiders** looking in. Once human but never being able to be human again.

A bit like historians, if I’m honest.

Rebel Vampires my new fantasy series is set in the supernatural world of Blood Life, in a hidden London of vampires, rebels and romance. The world is divided between Blood Lifers (vampires) and First Lifers (humans). And vampires are both predator and prey.

I wanted to write a vampire book for adults. A whole new urban fantasy twist on the myth – or as Light would say: ‘You know those vampire myths? Holy water, entry by invitation only and sodding crucifixes? Bollocks to them.’

Blood Dragons (Rebel Vampires Volume 1) is out now (e-book and paperback). Click here: http://viewbook.at/BloodDragons

Blood Dragons was sparked by the idea of a British Rocker vampire with a photographic memory called Light. Light’s extraordinary memory is based on my son’s. My son is an autistic savant – meaning he has a photographic memory. I wondered whether being a vampire with such a gift would be a blessing or a curse.

Light is caught between his century old love for a savage Elizabethan Blood Lifer and his forbidden human lover in 1960s London.

You have two of my favourite British time periods right there: Elizabethan (a powerful, fascinating, inventive but secretive period overflowing with plots…and my personal top monarch of them all – Elizabeth I), and the 1960s.

The 1960s London music scene? If I could go back to one time period only, that would be it.

Light is elected into Blood life in Victorian England. This gave me 150 years to paint – the glories and the horrors. Because Light remembers it all with the clarity of a photograph.

Research for a writer is essential. But the key? To make it invisible. The reader should feel like they’re in that Victorian warehouse, trapped in a stinking hole during World War One or lounged in the fug of a 1960s bar with a pint and a ciggie. It should be vivid and real. Research worn with a light touch.

Once Blood Lifers are elected they choose to hold onto what they love best about the times they pass through. The clothes, hair or mannerisms of speech.

Ruby – Light’s Author and lover – (‘Ruby. My red-haired devil, Author, muse, liberator, guide: my gorgeous nightmare’), is an Elizabethan.

‘A copper tuppeny bit landed on the grass at Ruby’s feet. There were sniggers.

I remained in the shadows, waiting for my cue.

‘Faith, you are foolish slaves. Nothing but base beasts. By this hand, you will cry mercy before this night is over.’

The laughter died.’

Blood Shackles (Rebel Vampires Volume 1) is out now (e-book and paperback). Click here: http://viewbook.at/BloodShackles

Whereas Hartford? He’s a powerful American Long-lived. But the jazz age? Those were the years of his greatest joy and freedom. They spoke to his Soul – and his beautiful voice. It’s Hartford’s voice, which sets the other slaves free with its hope, when they’re abducted by the secret human Blood Club in Blood Shackles. Like Taken but with vampires.

‘ ‘Groupies,’ Donovan sighed dreamily.

Hartford shook his nut. ‘Jazz babies: now there was a treat! All those blotto dolls in loose dresses, with looser morals, wanting to have a good time. I was in Chicago when it was the hard-boiled gangsters running the cabarets and the dance clubs; now they knew how to throw a party. Later the place to be was New York, where I’d hunt The Cotton Club to the throb of Duke Ellington. Have a smoke. Some skirt up for some nookie and then… Pulse of the blood and the jazz in synchronicity…’ Hartford’s peepers shuddered closed, as we all licked our lips in sympathetic memory. ‘I’d sneak into the Rosewood Ballroom to hear Louis Armstrong play, even when I wasn’t on the hunt.’ ’ Blood Shackles (Rebel Vampires Volume 2)

Blood Renegades, the third book in the trilogy, which has just come out, is at heart a book about evolution: how our two species have evolved side by side through history…and what happens if the Blood Lifers finally step into the light?

Mostly the books are about London: its dark and its glory. Researching historical London? No chore at all.

‘I studied the bloke’s earnest bespectacled mush, as he weaved his small hands animatedly. A single brunette curl fell over his right peeper; he brushed at it with a quick smile. Not quite up at Oxford yet, Edmond was only just younger than me.

Yet it felt like centuries separated us.

We strolled in the early autumn evening along London Bridge, which arched elegantly across the Thames; the moon was masked by mist. The air was sharp; my nostrils stung.

Even in the dark the roadway was alive with bustle and roar: broughams, growlers, whinnying nags and drivers hollering.

My London: thriving and thrusting.

Birds hurried with bundles of umbrella frames and cages of hats, mingling with dirty coster girls and oily sackmakers. Waifs. Strays. Roughs. Working men and women ebbing and flowing across the great river, whilst the rich rode in their carriages.

Then there was us: one First Lifer and one Blood, in the black freeze of the evening.’ Blood Renegades (Rebel Vampires Volume 3) http://viewbook.at/BloodRenegades

History and vampires: Beauty and the Beast. Now that’s something I’m passionate about…

Escape into Blood Life now…

~Blood Dragons: http://viewbook.at/BloodDragons

~Blood Shackles: http://viewbook.at/BloodShackles

~Blood Renegades: http://viewbook.at/BloodRenegades

ABOUT ROSEMARY A JOHNS

WINNER OF SILVER AWARD in the National Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

ROSEMARY A JOHNS is a music fanatic and a paranormal anti-hero addict who creates spellbinding worlds, thrilling action, gripping suspense and passionate romances, all uniquely told. She wrote her first fantasy novel at the age of ten, when she discovered the weird worlds inside her head were more exciting than double swimming. Since then she’s studied history at Oxford University, run a theatre company (her critically acclaimed plays have been described as “uncomfortable, unsettling and uneasily true to life”), and worked with disability charities.

When Rosemary’s not falling in love with the rebels fighting their way onto the page, she heads the Oxford writing group Dreaming Spires.

Email Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bQ0kMX

Fantasy website: https://rosemaryajohns.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15571684.Rosemary_A_Johns

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RosemaryAnnJohns

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosemaryajohns

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rosemary-A-Johns/e/B01JOJVTNE

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rosemary-a-johns

Yay! Book 2 of the Loyalist Trilogy earned a new award!

Save

May 17 2017

How Do You Keep Your Inspiration?

Elaine Cougler Guest Authors Ad Astra convention, fantasy and science fiction, imagination and writing, writing conferences, writing journey

Today I have the distinct pleasure of entertaining here on my historical fiction blog an author from a different genre. Maaja Wentz is a Toronto writer whose joyous smile shown at left is heightened in her lively guest post below. Welcome to Maaja! Enjoy, Everyone! And don’t forget to enter Maaja’s contest.

Just before you begin Maaja’s guest post I have to mention that last week my website let me down and even though I wrote my usual Wednesday blog post it didn’t send properly. Consequently my readers didn’t get their notification. After you finish reading Maaja’s interesting words below please consider checking out last week’s post, War on Our Doorstep! It’s got loads of photos in it. Ah, technology! And now read about inspiration—

How Do You Keep Your Inspiration?

Guest post by Maaja Wentz

When authors speak in public, readers and newbie writers alike ask the same question: Where do you get your inspiration? This weekend I attended Toronto’s Ad Astra science fiction and fantasy convention where I listened to authors such as Brandon Sanderson, Robert J. Sawyer, Julie Czerneda, and Diana Whiting. None of them expressed difficulty getting ideas. In fact, Sanderson read us a story which he had written on the plane and in the airport on his way to Toronto.

There’s a little secret writers share. Most, myself included, have more story ideas then they have time to develop. Between life events, the news, and new discoveries in science and history, there will never be a dearth of story sparks. The challenge is to stay inspired through early drafts, revisions based on beta reader feedback, and multiple revisions after editorial review. For traditionally published authors this process often takes a year, leaving sequel-hungry fans waiting.

At least traditionally published authors have editors with deadlines to goad them into action. As an indie author, seeing things through to the end is lonelier because editors are freelance and deadlines are self-imposed. I love the exhilaration of writing a first draft. The blank page holds limitless possibilities and new scenes come quickly, but editing is a slow slog.

What is the secret to persevering from idea to polished book? For many, it’s the same element that drives actors, singers, and dancers — the joy of performing. Doing public readings where I can see the audience laugh or hold its breath is its own reward. On the Wattpad reading app my novel, Feeding Frenzy, has received over 124 000 reads to date. Winning a Watty Award and interacting with Wattpad readers online keeps me going because I know real people are enjoying my characters and their adventures.

When I can’t share my work, reading keeps me motivated. Writers get inspiration from the same source readers get entertainment and food for thought. We need to see what other writers are capable of, the creative challenges they set themselves, their differing voices and styles, and their solutions to technical puzzles. Reading fiction also helps us remember the pure pleasure of books from the reader’s point of view.

There is a danger inherent in this kind of inspiration according to Hugo and Nebula award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer. At Ad Astra on Sunday, he read from his work-in-progress about the Manhattan project and the inventors of the atomic bomb. Sawyer said he wouldn’t read anything fictional featuring Enrico Fermi, Robert Oppenheimer, or Richard Feynman. He worried fictional depictions of historical figures might overlap with his own research-based ideas. For fear of accidental plagiarism, or of having to limit his imagination to avoid it, he is sticking to non-fiction for now.

Unlike Robert J. Sawyer, I’m still learning the craft and business of writing. My inspiration comes from reading my favourite genres: fantasy and science fiction. To stay current, and for the pleasure of reading, I purchased ten of the top fantasy and science fiction novels on the Amazon ebook charts. The idea is not that I will be inspired to write like these authors, but that their books will motivate me to keep revising, editing, and polishing to the end. If I never wrote another story, I would still have over seven novel drafts on my computer, waiting to be edited and published. All I need is sufficient motivation.

Want to win the chart-topping fantasy and science fiction novels I chose to inspire me?

Click on this link to enter the contest, but act now. Contest ends May 30, 2017.

Maaja Wentz is the award-winning author of poems, short stories, and her lighthearted supernatural thriller, Feeding Frenzy, coming soon. To find out more and get free stories, visit: maajawentz.com

The Loyalist Trilogy

The Loyalist's Wife 2nd edition — The Loyalist’s Wife 2nd edition Chill With a Book Award winner!

Third in The Loyalist Trilogy Released November, 2016

Save

September 14 2016

Do Children Thrive on Imagination?

Elaine Cougler Uncategorized imagination and writing

Today’s post comes to me courtesy of a very special little boy who visits quite often. The last time he was here we bought this costume for him for Halloween and he just had to try it out. I was interested in what happened once he was behind the knight’s helmet with the visor down and his very own sword and shield in hand. He launched into sword play! He needed no prodding or showing what to do. Somehow a knight lunged forth as I clicked my camera.

For Halloween this knight’s costume will have black pants added but he may have to push the helmet open so he can see as he wanders the streets looking for damsels in distress. Or candy.

ben2jpg

This all got me thinking about how easily accessible imagination can be, given the right prompts. Isn’t that what we writers do? With the right word pictures we transport our audience wherever we want faster than a charging stallion carrying a knight to the joust.

ben4

And we keep the moment going long enough to hook the reader into our stories. The imagination is a spectacular aid for authors. If we didn’t have it, or if our readers didn’t have it, imagine how dull reading would be. And imagine how boring a new costume would be for my grandson.

ben5

Here’s a seven-year-old boy anxious to dress up on a very hot day in August because his imagination has been tweaked. How can writers make sure that happens every time someone cracks open one of our books?

ben7

7 Ways to Spark the Imagination:

Take it out for a walk. Your imagination, that is. Look at the world all around and think of options that might be or could have been. Use your brain to take you into imaginary worlds. The sky is not the limit; it is the wide open door for us.
Find moments to sit quietly and let your brain do its thing. In the doctor’s office imagine the individual stories of those around you: that mother with the whiny baby, the whiskered old man with the rheumy eyes, the woman with her long legs crossed so tightly.
Actually go for a walk and clear your mind.
Sign up for a curated news feed and, when it comes into your InBox every day, play the what if game. What if that oil spill happened right off the coast where loggerhead turtles have been laying their eggs for generations? What if your wife didn’t come home tonight? What if you broke your leg skiing with Trump? Well, maybe that’s a lot far-fetched.
Go to Tim Horton’s or Dunkin’ Donuts and just stop, look and listen. Make sure you don’t get caught eavesdropping, although that might make a great story, too.
Talk to everyone: the rushing young man in the coffee lineup, the lady beside you getting her hair coloured for the 40th time, the snarly man whose truck smacked into you and who told you it was your fault.
Especially talk to the little boy who comes to visit and brings you all sorts of things: shells, flowers (weeds), and even a quarter because you’ve done that for him.

Back to the original question. Do children thrive on imagination? Yes, they do, if only we look, listen, and learn from them. I’m taking a page from my grandson’s book. I wonder if he’ll write one some day?

imagination and writing

Beauty and the Beast: How to Write History Within a Fantasy Book

Make sure you read through to the end as there I’ve linked to her book trailer for the series. You’ll love it. Thanks so much, Rosemary, for joining us here today.

Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by vampires. The myths. The history behind the myths. Living for centuries and witnessing the best and worst of all humanity but only as the outsiders looking in. Once human but never being able to be human again.

A bit like historians, if I’m honest.

Rebel Vampires my new fantasy series is set in the supernatural world of Blood Life, in a hidden London of vampires, rebels and romance. The world is divided between Blood Lifers (vampires) and First Lifers (humans). And vampires are both predator and prey.

I wanted to write a vampire book for adults. A whole new urban fantasy twist on the myth – or as Light would say: ‘You know those vampire myths? Holy water, entry by invitation only and sodding crucifixes? Bollocks to them.’

Blood Dragons (Rebel Vampires Volume 1) is out now (e-book and paperback). Click here: http://viewbook.at/BloodDragons

Light is caught between his century old love for a savage Elizabethan Blood Lifer and his forbidden human lover in 1960s London.

You have two of my favourite British time periods right there: Elizabethan (a powerful, fascinating, inventive but secretive period overflowing with plots…and my personal top monarch of them all – Elizabeth I), and the 1960s.

The 1960s London music scene? If I could go back to one time period only, that would be it.

Light is elected into Blood life in Victorian England. This gave me 150 years to paint – the glories and the horrors. Because Light remembers it all with the clarity of a photograph.

Once Blood Lifers are elected they choose to hold onto what they love best about the times they pass through. The clothes, hair or mannerisms of speech.

Ruby – Light’s Author and lover – (‘Ruby. My red-haired devil, Author, muse, liberator, guide: my gorgeous nightmare’), is an Elizabethan.

‘A copper tuppeny bit landed on the grass at Ruby’s feet. There were sniggers.

I remained in the shadows, waiting for my cue.

‘Faith, you are foolish slaves. Nothing but base beasts. By this hand, you will cry mercy before this night is over.’

The laughter died.’

Blood Shackles (Rebel Vampires Volume 1) is out now (e-book and paperback). Click here: http://viewbook.at/BloodShackles

‘ ‘Groupies,’ Donovan sighed dreamily.

Blood Renegades, the third book in the trilogy, which has just come out, is at heart a book about evolution: how our two species have evolved side by side through history…and what happens if the Blood Lifers finally step into the light?

Mostly the books are about London: its dark and its glory. Researching historical London? No chore at all.

‘I studied the bloke’s earnest bespectacled mush, as he weaved his small hands animatedly. A single brunette curl fell over his right peeper; he brushed at it with a quick smile. Not quite up at Oxford yet, Edmond was only just younger than me.

Yet it felt like centuries separated us.

We strolled in the early autumn evening along London Bridge, which arched elegantly across the Thames; the moon was masked by mist. The air was sharp; my nostrils stung.

Even in the dark the roadway was alive with bustle and roar: broughams, growlers, whinnying nags and drivers hollering.

My London: thriving and thrusting.

Birds hurried with bundles of umbrella frames and cages of hats, mingling with dirty coster girls and oily sackmakers. Waifs. Strays. Roughs. Working men and women ebbing and flowing across the great river, whilst the rich rode in their carriages.

Then there was us: one First Lifer and one Blood, in the black freeze of the evening.’ Blood Renegades (Rebel Vampires Volume 3) http://viewbook.at/BloodRenegades

History and vampires: Beauty and the Beast. Now that’s something I’m passionate about…

Escape into Blood Life now…

~Blood Dragons: http://viewbook.at/BloodDragons

~Blood Shackles: http://viewbook.at/BloodShackles

~Blood Renegades: http://viewbook.at/BloodRenegades

How Do You Keep Your Inspiration?

How Do You Keep Your Inspiration?

Guest post by Maaja Wentz

Want to win the chart-topping fantasy and science fiction novels I chose to inspire me?

Click on this link to enter the contest, but act now. Contest ends May 30, 2017.

Maaja Wentz is the award-winning author of poems, short stories, and her lighthearted supernatural thriller, Feeding Frenzy, coming soon. To find out more and get free stories, visit: maajawentz.com

The Loyalist Trilogy

Do Children Thrive on Imagination?

For Halloween this knight’s costume will have black pants added but he may have to push the helmet open so he can see as he wanders the streets looking for damsels in distress. Or candy.

This all got me thinking about how easily accessible imagination can be, given the right prompts. Isn’t that what we writers do? With the right word pictures we transport our audience wherever we want faster than a charging stallion carrying a knight to the joust.

And we keep the moment going long enough to hook the reader into our stories. The imagination is a spectacular aid for authors. If we didn’t have it, or if our readers didn’t have it, imagine how dull reading would be. And imagine how boring a new costume would be for my grandson.

Here’s a seven-year-old boy anxious to dress up on a very hot day in August because his imagination has been tweaked. How can writers make sure that happens every time someone cracks open one of our books?

7 Ways to Spark the Imagination:

Take it out for a walk. Your imagination, that is. Look at the world all around and think of options that might be or could have been. Use your brain to take you into imaginary worlds. The sky is not the limit; it is the wide open door for us.

Find moments to sit quietly and let your brain do its thing. In the doctor’s office imagine the individual stories of those around you: that mother with the whiny baby, the whiskered old man with the rheumy eyes, the woman with her long legs crossed so tightly.

Actually go for a walk and clear your mind.

Go to Tim Horton’s or Dunkin’ Donuts and just stop, look and listen. Make sure you don’t get caught eavesdropping, although that might make a great story, too.

Talk to everyone: the rushing young man in the coffee lineup, the lady beside you getting her hair coloured for the 40th time, the snarly man whose truck smacked into you and who told you it was your fault.

Especially talk to the little boy who comes to visit and brings you all sorts of things: shells, flowers (weeds), and even a quarter because you’ve done that for him.

Back to the original question. Do children thrive on imagination? Yes, they do, if only we look, listen, and learn from them. I’m taking a page from my grandson’s book. I wonder if he’ll write one some day?

Elaine Cougler’s website: www.elainecougler.com

Make this author happy.<img decoding="async" class="wp-smiley emoji" data-tf-not-load src="https://s1.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/simple-smile.svg" alt=":-)" width="16" height="16" />

Write a review on Goodreads or Amazon.

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by vampires. The myths. The **history behind the myths. Living for centuries and witnessing the best and worst of all humanity but only as the outsiders** looking in. Once human but never being able to be human again.

Make this author happy.