Reading is my Passion.

Bloganuary writing prompt

What books do you want to read?

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Ever since I was a kid, I have loved firstly speculative fiction, especially fantasy, then books on history and finally mathematics/science textbooks.

This interest stems from my various interests, needing to understand the history and the riches that come from that knowledge. I have used this learning to influence my writing. I love learning what was done before and seeing how it slowly impacted society.

Then it is reading fantasy from these fantastic authors; David Eddings, Raymond E Feist, Robb Hobb, Sarah Douglass, Weis and Hickman combo, Dan Abnett, and most recently Pirateaba, Shirtaloon, JF Brink and Zogarth. It helped me in the past to escape from my depression and abusive stepfather with the constant bullying at school. Now, it helps relax me and learn how others write.

Then there is reading textbooks on mathematics and science; this stemmed from my skill and talent in these areas. If I had been better in the whole university thing, I would have become a physicist or a mathematician. Still, I have a few dozen books on these topics in my bookcases.

I do like other books, but these picks are my passion.

Ideas for Children’s Books

This idea for a kid’s book goes back to when I was a child. Some people could say that my imagination was active; looking back, it was just my future self expressing early.

I told two main stories when I was six to seven years old. One was about me being the planet Pluto, who came to Earth to make friends and learn. This story was a lot of fun; I used to tell these twins about me being Pluto and that I shrank into a boy from being a planet. All the people on it made my body run via levers and pulleys. These twins loved the story and waited patiently for what I, Pluto, would do next.

The other story was about ghosts, and there were three types: Ones who like to have fun and play, ones who want to learn and teach, and Ones who play pranks on the children. These ghosts were invisible, and only from an injection of imagination could you see the ghosts. I also was the translator of said ghosts and led the children around the playground to interact with nice ghosts and wise ghosts to foil the tricks of the naughty ones.

The issue now is that I must remember how I talked when I was six; this is a little harder than I thought. Being 44 now and reflecting on those innocent times is challenging but will be worth it.

How I approach topics that I don’t have knowledge of.

What do you do if you haven’t had an experience like homeless or PTSD as a writer? Your character is homeless; how do you describe their emotions, actions and thoughts? This is something that I have been thinking about ever since I started writing: being male, how would a woman react to a situation? Or what does it feel like to be a homeless person? Or how someone would deal with racism? I will review the steps for addressing this and other situations.

One of the things I deal with gender is asking someone of the opposite gender about how they would react to my proposed story. I start with the character being a person, not male/female/non-gendered, as the base personality is unique to every person, even more so if they are of a fantasy race. I then create a scene and express how this character would react. Then, I will reach out to a few people of the same gender and ask them how they would tell me. I would do that for any gender or race, as I will not make up something that isn’t a real emotion in my stories.

Next was a coincidence for my main character in ‘Journal of an Adventurer’, Lone Solo/Orphan. He had a huge drinking problem, borrowed money from loan sharks, got into fights, was arrested and had a destructive attitude. I just thought it was an exciting flaw of his, and his character would grow through the book and series.

A reader/author of mine, an ex-soldier, came to me and said he related to Lone, as he too has PTSD (and he wrote a book about it). He asked if I did do that on purpose. I did not; it was an accident, but I, too, had a traumatic past and reacted in the same way when I left that situation, drinking to excess and being cold with emotions. In this regard, I used my own experiences, by accident, to create a more whole character.

The new thing I am dealing with is homelessness and gangs in Savage Rebellion. I have seen movies and read fictional books about these topics, but I want to know how a realistic person deals with this. I have a few sources that I will ask for. Still, in this regard, I will have to research as it is vital to me to represent this situation with the utmost care, respect and knowledge. Going in half-cocked or making the topic into some fantastical idea.

It matters to care about using fundamental ideas and people’s experiences for my books, even though they are set in a fantasy world. Racism, sexism, war trauma and homelessness are real things that we humans deal with daily, and how can I ignore that in my books? As in the real world, I want to show that even the most broken soul can be a hero.

Hope you have a Merry Xmas

I wish all my followers a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. It was definitely a year for me; I don’t want to re-hash the bad, but I want to embrace the joy I have had this year.

One shining moment this year would be starting book two of Journal of an Adventurer, completing NaNoWriMo and getting back into writing blogs. I will be publishing not only a novel but also some kid’s books. That makes me quite pumped for 2024.

Another thing I am grateful for this year was being my mother’s caregiver. It makes me glad that she was surrounded by love, and I was thankful for the opportunity to be there for her.

I am not religious; I see Christmas as a time for family and love. I love to cook, and unfortunately, I am working, but I hope you all are filled with happiness and fun.

Is the MCU dead?

Hello, readers of my fabulous blog of a few entries over the last few years. I have just finished watching season 2 of Loki and watched Jeremy Jahns‘ review on the Marvels. I have been wondering about the diminished quality of MCU movies while only sometimes the Disney Plus MCU has a dramatic improvement in writing, acting, and even CGI. I am wondering why, and here are some of my thoughts.

If you haven’t seen Loki season 2 or Ms Marvel, I will try to be vague on the plot while discussing my thoughts on Antman and the Wasp Quantumania and Thor Love and Thunder. There are others I could use, like Hawkeye or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but I will concentrate on the AWQ and TLT (this is shorthand for the movies about as they are damn too long, I mean, sheesh)  as I wasn’t a fan of everything.

Starting with the movies, all MCU movies from phases 1 to 3 were not perfect, but they had more obvious effort put into them. The first Antman movie is one of my favourites as it keeps the plot simple; it is a heist movie. Yes, the nasty guy/massive CGI fight at the end wasn’t great, but it made some sense. While Thor Ragnarok, Dark World and the first had issues, I liked them overall.

AWQ, this might sound strange, but the ending was horrible (spoiler). Antman should have died. It would have hit home more to the overall arc of his movie series. He went from thief to hero in training to finally the hero, sacrificing himself for his family and the world like Ironman in Endgame. It isn’t the only thing in the movie to fix, but stop and think; if you saw everything happen, you might agree or disagree, but I think it was a missed opportunity for the MCU.

Now, TLT, that was a train wreck, took a movie series that was redeemed in the third movie and shat on the work. I wasn’t in Titter WiTekki’s head when he wrote and directed the film, but why make it unlikeable? There were so many cringe scenes that I just stopped and did something else while it was on. I haven’t seen the Marvels, but Jermey (the link below for the review) is a nerd-loving moviegoer like myself, and he hated the movie. His ratings are different, but he would have given it a zero if it weren’t for Ms Marvel’s actress.

Now to the MCU TV shows on Disney Plus. I will not talk about Shehulk or Hawkeye cause I want to talk about the best ones, Loki and Ms Marvel. Starting with Loki and the brilliant season 2 was near perfect. The writing and dialogue between the characters were damn good, and the acting/direction was great, not to talk about the CGI, which I don’t know why this show looks so good compared to the latest movies. 

Ms Marvel is the same, my number 4, after seasons 1 and 2 of Loki and Wandervision, but it is more about the characters, acting, writing, and the down-to-earth world-building. (Spoiler) Making Ms Marvel a mutant instead of an Inhuman was a great idea, which could lead to Xmen. Some things on the show weren’t perfect, but it is far beyond the quality of the latest MCU movies.

I am going to paraphrase the great and marvellous Jeremy Jahns:

The overall MCU should take the next two years off and consider what they should do.

 I agree with this statement, and the brains at MCU should finish the slate now, take that break, and look at how to get back to their roots from 15 years ago.

Things that make me happy!

Daily writing prompt

When are you most happy?

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I have been enjoying doing a few of these daily writing prompts. Of all the questions, I thought asking when I am most happy would make my day.

Many things make me happy, from reading to spending time with family and friends. Even writing this answer allows my creative juices to flow.

I will start by finding a new book by a favourite author in a bookstore. There have been times that I didn’t care if I had the money, only that I needed this book. I would then devour it, not stopping until every word was imprinted into my imagination.

Next would be a walk either near water or surrounded by trees. It makes my soul jump in joy to be in my mind. The air was crisp and vibrant. Early morning is my best experience walking on the Broadwater in Southport, QLD. Then it was walking a hiker’s path in a rainforest. The massive trees with vines and foliage hanging from them. Seeing critters running around in their natural habitat makes me joyful.

Then there is spending time with friends or family, from playing Dungeons and Dragons with my nerdy friends to spending time with my eldest sister and discussing things. I am at peace surrounded by those special people in my life.

Finally, creating stories. I have been grabbing ideas from the depth of my imagination, pulling them into the written word. I don’t think I ever regretted the bliss of writing something fantastical that would bring delight into others’ lives.

Re-writing Lake Merrin

After finishing my first draft for Savage Rebellion, I will return to re-write Lake Merrin. I want to change it from 1st person, present tense, to 3rd person, past tense. This will be hard as it has been a while since I edited/published the novel. 

The main reason why I am doing this is simple: I realised that after Lake Merrin (spoilers), the story will go from an individual to a group. Trying to balance the storyline through the eyes of Ophan/Lone Solo will be hard (well, easy for me as I like writing in 1st) but hard for readers to connect from book to book.

The company novella, The Great Spoon Heist, was in 3rd and had three POVs. I am carrying this into my next novel. It rounds up the story I want to tell quite well.

The first thing I noticed was the amount of thinking dialogue my main character has. I did a lot of inside his head, which made him funny. One is a sarcastic thought with a more measured conversation. Also, Lone/Orphan does not use contractions, meaning he uses does not, cannot, do not, etc. It was pointed out to me by my beta readers, and I considered that his way of speaking. 

So, considering all that, I have to write more descriptions as you can get away with more with 1st person using an unreliable narrator. Lone isn’t unreliable but concentrates on weird things like the street names. My naming convention is simple. I don’t particularly appreciate making big, strange, and fantastical names for street, town, person, city, or country. The name of my world is Amsul, which was a nickname of mine from my sister.

In 3rd, you must paint more of a picture, not just what your main character sees or cares about. You should not go above and beyond but a little more.

For example, in the first scene:

The original:

What a beautiful day on Lake Merrin! That afternoon breeze from the shoreline is why I love this place, though the smells from the tavern downstairs can be a little on the nose.  

Who cares? Time for my liquid breakfast! Splash some water on face and chest. 

Now I just have to try not to wake up my ‘beautiful’ companion. She will only want me to spend more money on her. She can throw back grog even harder than me.

The Re-write:

Another beautiful day in Lake Merrin, thought the Orphan as he awoke. That afternoon breeze from the shoreline is why I love this place, though the smells from the tavern downstairs can be a little on the nose. Who cares? It’s time for my liquid breakfast! Splash some water on your face and chest.

The man known as Orphan was known by a few names; the orphan title came from his years of army life and being an orphan.

The man looked at his ‘beautiful’ companion, hoping she would not awaken. She will only want him to spend more money on her. She can throw back grog even harder than Orphan.

See the difference. 

So, when you want to re-write your novel, don’t do what I have done but realise early that a group of people are better in 3rd than 1st. Have a fantastic day writing #passioninspirecreate.

You can find Lake Merrin at http://samuelcolbran.com or Amazon.

My weakness is books. What should I do?

Daily writing prompt

What could you do less of?

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This question is a hard one. To look at yourself and reflect on flaws or habits. One thing I do have to admit is listening to audiobooks too much.

I love reading and have fallen in love with audiobooks since I became a caregiver. It allowed me to experience fantastic books while doing all the jobs that being a carer entailed.

Since the death of the person I cared for, I have found that habit has made people around me annoyed as I am immersed in incredible books, like The Wandering Inn, Beware of Chicken, Awaken Online, Belgariad, The Dresden Files and many more.

I could cut it down now, but I am listening to a book as I write this blog. So, I might be a lost cause. Still reminding myself that I have people who want to chat with me, I will curb the need always to be lost in a fantasy world.

Going from RPG to Novel, my experience.

Wow, four blogs in a row, I must be on a roll. No, not really, but while I am writing my next novel, Savage Rebellion, for NaNoWriMo (I am currently on day 13 at 32000 words). I explain why you should never adopt a Dungeon and Dragon/Pathfinder game into a book. To head off the first question, yes, Journal of Adventurer and the World, Favinonia was based on a role-playing game. I built this world over ten years ago with the help of my friends, but the books are played out in this world; the characters of the Rejects and the city of Lake Merrin were completely separate from all the games I created.

There have been three authors I know of that based their books on a game they created; they are Raymond E Feist, Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They did a brilliant job; I don’t know how much it carried over. Still, one quote from Margret Weis about the character Raistlin Majere, whos character was a good friend of Tracy Hickman, Terry Phillps’ betrayal of the character Raistlin in the game, gave not only the character a personality but breath life into the complexity of Dragonlance and Krynn itself. Mr Hickman says that Raistlin was Mrs Weis’ character, and the books The Soulforge and Brothers in Arms show the complexity created by the Phillps’ roleplaying.

If you read Dragonlance Chronicles, Legends and the above books, you can see that with help, you can translate roleplaying games into a novel. This is when the ‘but’ comes in. Not all games will adapt, and not all characters will adapt to the page.

My example was that I would do a short serial on the party of Shadow’s Bane (here is a link to the story). I started to introduce each character with my interpretation of each; it was not perfect, but I tried to capture the essence of the character. This seemed to be going well until the last one I introduced. 

I will not name my now ex-friend, but I will describe her character as best as I can remember. The character’s name was Raven, and she was a summoner (this is from the Pathfinder RPG). Her eidolon was called Night Fury. You can see that one name of her summons was named after the movie How to Train a Dragon. This is fine for a private game with many friends, but publishing a description of the summon as Toothless the Night Fury from the movie would be dangerous for me and my blog.  Raven was independent with a powerful but not fully understood ability. I think she could be a bit domineering, but that is my interpretation.

So, I changed the dragon’s look, shape and name and softened Raven’s personality. To keep it somewhat the same, I found a name that meant Night and or Fury. I then wrote the characters’ arc. In the game, my ‘friend’ roleplayed between Raven and NF, and I think it was one of the best sessions I have ever run. I tried to emulate that feeling, but somewhere, it got lost in translation, and I lost two friends because of my interpretation of said character and her summons.

This hurt me dearly, and I stopped writing for four years. Only now, since the death of my mother, have I come back to the keyboard to start to write again. Could I have done something different? Yes, but that would be hindsight. I can warn other fledgling writers about adapting a game to a book, as it is more challenging than you think. Do not lose friends over some simple words. Still, use the world, but make new characters that are yours and yours alone.

Shadows Bane short serial story [Link]

Review of He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon

I have been listening to many audiobooks during my time off from writing. I am reviewing a few of the ones I love. The first is by the author, Shirtaloon, and the book’s name is He Who Fights with Monsters. The series just published its tenth book, and I am currently listening/reading it.

This series started on the web series site Royal Road and is currently continuing on said site.

Like most of my reviews, I will avoid spoilers while giving you more of an emotional review over a technical one.

This series is a genre called litrpg, a literary role-playing game to get this out of the way. This is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels.  

The main character is Jason Asano, a Japanese Australian transported into a world of magic and monsters. Now, if you are Australian, who will love Jason, as Shirtaloon capsulised the larrikin of Australia’s society. From sarcasm to his apparent disregard for social or political conventions, this is only a tiny part of his personality. I cannot tell you how many laugh-out-loud moments I had listening to this series. 

Now, MC is only complete with some fantastic supporting characters. These range from the first magic users he meets in the series, Gary, the jolly Lion-man, Rufus, the straight man, and Farrah, his female Gandalf. 

Then there is the world, and wow! How to create such a vibrant world is marvellous. The magic system is more akin to cultivation fantasy, as there are tiers in power than levels like other litrpgs. This makes reading more fluid than crunchy, like some heavy stat-based books.

From some other reviews I have read, it can be challenging for people to get into, but I promise you will love this series. 

Shirtaloon Website: https://hewhofightswithmonsters.com/
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WF8SB71
Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26294/he-who-fights-with-monsters
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Shirtaloon