March 2012 update on current projects

Hello all,

I've been rather quiet lately, so I decided it would be nice to let you know what I'm doing and what to expect this year.

At the moment I'm doing a community play with my wife and son.  It's a good way to spend time with them and something I kinda enjoy doing, although it interferes with my writing time.  *sigh*  I do love performing the play in front of an audience though.

Novels

As far as my fantasy novels set in the world of Ryallon go, I've finished the fifth book, "Ebudae".  It's currently undergoing edits and I plan to publish it in late May/Early June.  My three beta readers have given it rave reviews and tell me it's my best work yet.  The character Ebudae is a young wizardess with ability beyond her years and a natural toughness.  She's the sort of person who will save herself before ever letting a knight in shining armor do so.

I haven't started the next book, "Pelya", but I know how it's going to go.  Memorizing lines takes up the same parts of my mind as writing does, so I can't begin until after the play.  I'm guessing I'll have the first draft finished in July and publish it in December or January.

I also have the next trilogy (books 7-9) plotted out.  I know the overall plot as well as the basic plots for each of the books.  I can't wait to write them. :)  I'm hoping to publish all of them in 2013.

Short stories

I have ideas for my Demented Children series, but no plans to write one at the moment.  Currently, I have 8 short stories I give away for free and only 6 books I sell, so I'd like to reach balance on them.  However, the Demented Children series is very popular and I intend to write many more in the years to come.  In addition, I have other stories kicking about in the back of my mind that I may put on paper if inspired.

The best news is that illustrations for "The Emo Bunny that Should" are nearly done.  I also plan to go through and do another edit to the story to make certain it's perfect and easy to read.  We're hoping for an Easter release.  The artwork is beautiful and I can't wait for you to see it.  Here's a sample of the latest:

Copyright 2012 Arlene Rose

I'm going to sell the illustrated version for $5.99  I believe it's a good value for an illustrated children's book.  I'll keep the text-only version free.

Editing

At the moment, I'm going through and re-editing the Willden Trilogy.  A few reviews have mentioned that I over-describe things and that the books are too wordy.  I began looking at "Kethril", my third book, and found it to be true.

When I began editing it this time, I discovered that I had way too many descriptions of details that didn't advance the story and, in fact, distracted from the story.  I'm halfway through this edit and I've deleted 10,000 words from the total 123,000 original length.

I have to tell you that I'm appalled by this and I apologize to all of you who've read it so far.  What's extraordinary is that the story is still exactly the same even without those words.  They added nothing to the story.

I ask that you forgive me for them though.  The reviews have also mentioned that the books are enjoyable to read and the characters wonderful.  With these new edits, it should speed the reading experience and improve the enjoyment of the characters.  I'm doing "Anilyia" and "Rojuun" next.

I'm also learning a great deal in this process.  My fourth and fifth books are much leaner and faster reads.  I'll apply my new knowledge to the upcoming books to make them even better. :)

In Conclusion

I promise that I'm doing my best to provide you with the highest quality writing I can provide.  I'm constantly working to improve and learning how to master all the tools of my trade.  Thank you for taking the time to read my stories and I hope that they provide you with great enjoyment.  There will be many more to come. :)

All my best,

John H. Carroll

World Building: Creating Religion

World Building

I mostly write fantasy and sci-fi books.  One of the things I have to pay attention to is what things do I newly create and what things do I leave the same as people know them in this world?  At the time of this blog post I'm writing in the world of Ryallon, where I base my fantasy series.  Every once in a while, I'll share a little bit about the world building I do in the process.

When a person writes about something that happened in the past, it's wise to look at history books to get facts correct.  When someone writes about a completely fictional world, all of the details need to be built from scratch.

World building can be fun.  I'm certain there are a few would-be writers who have spent years building worlds of fantasy and magic, but have never gotten around to writing an actual book in the world.  It's also very popular among D&D players.

Creating Religions

In fantasy, it is common to establish a fictional set of religions.  Doing so can add great depth and definition to the characters and the people surrounding the characters.  An understanding of historical theologies can greatly add to the richness and realism of these religions.  It doesn't hurt to have read other novels with fictional religions either. 

Before you begin, it's a good idea to have a general idea of how different people in your world think.  There are usually many countries, though in fantasy it's possible to only have one.  But do all of your people believe the same way?  If you wish to have war in your worlds, multiple religions is one of the best ways to establish this.

One of the first things to consider is whether you want one god or many gods for your world.  Has it been that way throughout the history of your world?

How they get their power is important.  Are they powerful because they're gods?  Did something give them power?  One series I read, the Hawk and Fisher series by Simon R. Green, has gods gaining their power by the number of worshipers they have.

I have added the prologue of my fifth book, "Ebudae", below to give an example of how the Gods of Ryallon are set up.

An exerpt from "Ebudae"

While in the gloomy ruins of an ancient city below Dralin, Ebudae and Pelya had discovered a temple dedicated to an unknown god.  Within that temple was a book most ancient.  In spite of its age, the book was in perfect condition with gold and silver-filigreed bindings.

The cover opened of its own volition as the girls approached.  Gazing upon pages that flipped before their mesmerized eyes, Ebudae and Pelya understood every word with a clarity never experienced from any other book.  Neither left until the last page was finished and the cover closed.

The mysterious book told how the Gods of Ryallon came to be and a summary from it had remained sharp in the girl’s minds from that point on:

 

Chaotic energies swirl around Ryallon and its moons, extending far beyond to other suns and worlds, though they do not exist everywhere.  The energies give us magic and shape the life of Ryallon, though they are not the source of life.

Those who we call Gods were once normal beings.  When those normal beings drank of the chaotic energies too deeply, they gained vast powers.  There are many Gods on and around the world of Ryallon.  Some have great influence and power while others touch few.

The most ancient Gods have existed since before the beginning of humanity, but those are very odd to humans.  They are called the Unreal Gods.

The earliest deities of humanity are the Van Gods.  The oldest and largest temples are built to them in cities throughout Ryallon.

Others are new in the scheme of things, spawned from people or creatures who attempt to control the chaotic energies.  These are called the Crazed Gods, for when a being absorbs vast power too quickly, it can destroy the mind.  The Crazed Gods generally burn out and their energies spread back into the chaos. However, a few grow to power.

Less common are the Hushed Gods.  It is unknown when they came to be, but many believe them to be as old as the Van Gods.  They influence the world in subtle ways and have few followers.  This does not mean their power should be underestimated. Even Van Gods treat the Hushed Gods with great care.

And then there are the Dragons.  They are not Gods, but all Gods fear them; for they are Dragons.

The steps to becoming a rich Indie Author

I have discovered the necessary steps for Indie Authors to become rich! 

Keep in mind that I am not currently rich (I keep failing at step #5), so this is just theory.  That said, I've been self-published for over a year now and have achieved small success.  I've also paid close attention to how others have succeeded.  In about 2-4 years, I will honestly be able to support myself with my writing (maybe sooner if step #5 happens)

1.  Write something and publish it.

This is the obvious statement.  Write something and submit it to Amazon, Smashwords, or wherever you like.  The more places it's published, the more likely it is to get noticed.

Now, if you go straight to step #5, it doesn't even have to be good (It pains me to tell you that)  I've seen books that have been published with a couple of pictures taken from a cell phone and a caption.  It's ridiculous.  I beg of you to write something worth reading.


2.  Make it interesting.

This is my favorite part; a strength of mine.  It's even more important than step #3 although maybe not as important as step #4.  I like it better than step #4 though.  (Nothing is as important as step #5.  You can even skip step #1 and win the lottery if you have step #5, although you have to write something to be a rich Indie Author)

Writing an interesting story will draw people in and if one person tells others that it's interesting, you'll sell more.  People are more likely to buy your next books too.

Write something fascinating.  Take the reader on a journey into a new world.  Make the reader stay up all night and call in sick to work the next day because they want to find out what happens in the end!


3.  Make it good.

This is an odd statement, isn't it?  Good is different than interesting.  There are well-written books out there that have every word spelled correctly and punctuation precisely placed . . . and they're insanely boring to anyone with even the slightest imagination.

However, it's difficult to read an interesting story if the words are all spelled incorrectly.


4.  Get as many people as you can to notice it.

AKA - Marketing and social networking.  That's right.  Facebook, twitter, blogs, review sites, your mother (If she buys the book, it's a sale.  Don't underestimate how difficult this can be. If you do step #2, she may tell her bridge club.)

You can write the best book in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it won't sell.  I won't belabor this point.  Indie Authors have been agonizing over this to no end.


5.  Get super lucky.

And here we get to the key, the one step that the writer doesn't have full control over. The degree to which you do the other steps is the degree to which you influence this one.

I've written and published 4 novels, 1 novella and 8 short stories (step #1).  I have reviews that tell me that my stories are definitely interesting (step #2) and many that tell me they are well-written (step #3).  There have been a few reviews that compare me to a teenager who should be failing English Lit. but I'm constantly trying to improve with each writing (step #6), And I'm letting people know about my books (step #4) so . . .

However, I have not gotten super lucky.  And yes, I'm saying super lucky.  I've been slightly fortunate here and there, but not super lucky.  To sell a million books, your work has to be noticed by the right people at the right time.  Those people have to like it and tell everyone else.  Then everyone else has to take an interest in it.

If you want to become a rich Indie Author, you need to write and publish a book and then get super lucky.  Everything else is optional.




6.  Repeat steps 1-4.

Okay, so step #5 isn't happening for you.  Do it again.  That's right.  Write another story and publish it.  I highly recommend applying steps #2 and #3.  Too many people right now are trying to skip straight to #5 after doing #1.  They put out a bunch of crap, making the rest of us look bad.

If you do steps #1, #2, #3, #4 and #6, then after a while you'll have a steady, income producing list of books.  Get enough good, interesting books out there then you can make a living off of it even if you're not rich.

In Conclusion

As I said, I'm not rich (yet), but I have been actively doing all the steps except #5.  As a result, I'm starting to supplement my income nicely.  If I write two or three interesting, good books per year, I'll be supporting myself before long.

All my best,

John H. Carroll

My Neverwinter Nights modules

Neverwinter Nights

Neverwinter Nights is a D&D rpg (role playing game) created by Bioware in 2002.  When they released it, they opened up their toolset to individual builders.  Now there are over 6000 modules, many of which are better than the original campaign.  The community still exists with people continuing to make modules and run Persistant Worlds, which are online multiplayer modules.

The toolset is fairly easy to use once learned.  A lot of it is placing buildings and people for players to roam around in.  The hardest part (for me) is scripting to make everything work.  It's very close to writing computer programming language.  I had a lot of help from the community, and especially from a friend named Mistress who runs her own persistant world called "Realms of Mythology"

These modules are uploaded to the Neverwinter Nights Vault where they can be accessed by everyone and played.  Like Indie books, the quality of the module ranges from terrible to brilliant.  I've made two modules and added some tools for other builders as well as helping on a Lexicon for builders.

Resurrection Gone Wrong

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=5597

Description

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if YOU were suddenly transported to a fantasy world?

This module assumes that you are walking along through the local park and get stuck in a thunderstorm. You run for shelter when suddenly you experience an explosion of light and sound. You feel yourself falling and everything becomes dark.

When you wake up, you are in an unusual room with two oddly dressed ladies talking. You feel strange, as though your skin doesn't fit right. Then you begin to have a conversation with the two ladies. That's when things take a turn for the weird.

Try to survive in someone else's body in a D&D world. Can you get back? Is there some sort of dragon killing wand somewhere? Who the hell let all of these zombies roam around town anyway? This truly is a Resurrection Gone Wrong!

Building the module


I began this in 2005 and finished in 2006.  It was extremely fun.  The npcs that travel with the player are generally considered the high point of the module.  There is a good amount of humor in it too.  It has achieved hall of fame status on the NWN Vault which hosts modules.

There is no pay for this.  It's just something fun to do.
There are 44,570 words of dialogue in it.

Screenshots from the game

Kitchen

Dancing

Lizardfolk Thorpe

Certificate of Zombification

Resurrection Gone Wronger, Romancing the Bob
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=6059

Description

Saving the world is hard. Saving yourself is harder.

In Resurrection Gone Wrong, you found yourself stuck in a fantasy world with magic and monsters. Three clerics agreed to work together to send you home. Zombie mush got on one of the scrolls and something went wrong. Now you are stuck on a fantasy world with danger and intrigue all around and only one rumor of a way back. What will you do with the rest of your life here?

Building the module

This is a continuation of Resurrection Gone Wrong, my first module.  It's much more beautiful and the henchies are romanceable. It has over 330,000 words of dialogue which makes it the size of 3 full length novels, or the equivalent of the Willden Trilogy.

I wanted to try a lot of new things with this one.  The scripting is a lot more advanced.  A friend of mine helped me to learn a great deal about scripting to make things work.  The result is an extremely efficient module.

Another thing that I improved upon was making the areas more interesting.  I wanted to create a work of art and to a large degree I succeeded.  Even though Neverwinter Nights was developed in 2001, the toolset still allows for a builder to create amazing areas. Beautiful areas were created for me by Fester Pot and Maddyanne.  Mistress helped me with the scripting.

Replayability is something I didn't do well in the first module.  In this one, it's probably overdone.  There are 60 different endings possible . . . maybe a few more.  I honestly don't remember.  A person can play with any character or any alignment.  It's sometimes more fun to play an evil character.

At first I made it completely open ended with no specific quest, but found that people lost interest rapidly when they didn't have a specific goal.  I finally added a central quest.  It's challenging, but not too much so.
My biggest strength is characters.  Zombie Bob came back and there is a large quest related to him as well.  Each of the characters has their own quest with the exception of Gothiya.  I brought her in to guide the player to the main quest and also as a love interest.

The first module had a good deal of humor and this one is no different.  There are several puns throughout that will make a person groan, but I also parody a lot of RPG stereotypes. 10 bards exist throughout the world, each with about 20 lines from different popular songs.  Nobody's ever taken up the challenge to figure them out though.  *sigh*

Overall, it was a real learning experience with this module.  I stopped working on them after this in order to concentrate on my writing.  I don't think I would be as good of a writer without it though. :)