Content Warning: Some mild spoilers below the Sir Terry Pratchetts Witches and Guards series, Jim Butchers Dresden Files.

Greetings! This weekend past I was at Norcon, the Norfolk TV, Film and Sci-Fi and Convention and, as is common at the events I attend, I met many wonderful people some of whom asked my advice about writing and publishing their own work. I’m always happy to share my experiences of writing and self-publishing (hence this blog) and so, as it is a subject I haven’t really covered, today I thought I’d talk about some of my favourite characters and what makes them memorable for me.

As with all things no one character is universally loved, but why? Why don’t Black Panther, or Sherlock Holmes, or Hermione Granger elicit universal love across fan-bases? The very simple answer is that the scope of human experience is vast. Cultural differences, upbringing and life experiences shape what we as fans find compelling in the characters we love. As creators it’s impossible to write a character that speaks to everyone so this blog is going to talk about a few characters who speak to me and then a little about crafting your own characters.

I’m a long-time fan of the works of Sir Terry Pratchett so, first off, I’m going to look at ‘Granny’ Esme Weatherwax. I think most of us have or have come across the stereotype of the crotchety elder, it’s a trope and one that is often used but what set’s Granny apart? Is it that she’s a Witch? Well, no. Being a witch is only a small part of Granny’s character no matter how powerful she occasionally reveals herself to be. As acerbic as she can be there are many references, especially in the Tiffany Aching books, to just how much Granny cares for people (most notably those closest to death) and that is potentially one of the reasons she closes herself off from the world at large, to protect herself. She helps those who really need it but doesn’t want everyone relying on her all the time. She’s haunted by the lessons of Black Alice and her sister Lily (both of whom abused their power and she is markedly stronger than they were). She relies (although she’d never admit it) on her long-term friendship with Gytha ‘Nanny’ Ogg to keep her grounded and to let her know if she starts ‘Cackling’. So, as much as she is a powerful witch she is a character in her own right with flaws (her stubbornness is at once her greatest flaw and greatest strength) and this is the foundation of the most memorable characters, the most commonly cited being Spider-Man.

Another character from the Pratchett stable is His Grace, Sir Samuel ‘Sam’ Vimes, Duke of Ankh and Commander of the Ankh Morpork City Watch. Sam Vimes is a copper and a character we watch as he gets dragged up from the  gutter and the lowly rank of Captain in the Watch (at a time when it has only four members) by circumstances outside his control. He combats alcoholism as surely as he chases down the villains and vagabonds of the ‘Great’ plains city (a thinly veiled contemporary for London, Victorian to Modern era). Sam Vimes relies upon his experience and a stubborn resentment for authority (even though he is the authority) to solve his crimes. Unlike most detectives in stories he’s innately distrustful of ‘clues’ and is certainly of the opinion that everyone’s guilty of something (although he views living in a slum as a far lesser crime than owning one). His dogged determination in the chase is one of his most appealing aspects but lesser than his willingness to punch up the societal ladder rather than down and his genuine embarrassment or discomfort in dealing with people who show him the deference to a rank which he never felt he deserved. One of the great developments in his personal story is becoming a father and scenes in which he flagrantly abuses his station, so he can get home in time to read his son a bed-time story are simply the joyous antithesis of the trade-mark ‘cop who puts the job over their family responsibilities’.

Moving on, Jim Butchers Harry Dresden is a private investigator and wizard in modern day Chicago who advertises in the phone book (Lost items found, no parties, no bottomless purses, no love potions). This character divides a lot of people because he is (and there’s no arguing about it) a misogynist. He repeatedly talks about ‘chivalry’ and hates to see women get hurt. He’s the owner of a massive White Knight complex and that colours most of his interactions as well as being a tool that Jim uses to get him into trouble time and time again. We watch him, through the early books, flounder from one catastrophe to the next riding a tide of ego, bravado and luck but, on the odd occasions when he does know what he’s getting into, seeing him properly prepare and go in all guns blazing is something about the series I have enjoyed. He rails against the out of touch nature of the magical establishment until he’s made a more significant part in it and has some power to affect change. I think the most significant change comes when he takes on an apprentice and, through teaching, learns more about how he uses his own power and not just via magic. Harry Dresden is a new take on the old style Gumshoe and, while he comes with many of the tropes associated with the genre, there’s a genuine desire to do good in the character despite (or perhaps because) of his flaws and failures.

As a counterpoint to Dresden Jim also introduces us to Karrin Murphy. As a police officer Karrin see’s some things that can’t be explained and finds herself transferred to the ‘Special Crimes’ unit (a department for all the unexplainable cases committed by supernatural nasties which the authorities don’t believe in). Despite this career stumbling block Karrins own dogged determination see’s her rise to command of the unit and allows her to call on Harry as a consultant. Rather than denying her experiences as impossible she’s one of the few with the self-confidence to accept the reality before her eyes and work from that. We watch Karrin struggle to work within the system against perps it doesn’t even acknowledge exist until she’s forced, eventually, to go outside the law against the predators that can’t be brought in. Karrin Murphy is a counterpoint to Dresden, she does not need nor want ‘chivalry’ or protection, she fights for herself against beings much more powerful than she is but, while Harry relies on gusto and luck ‘Murph’ believes firmly in being practical and prepared and often ingenious with the tools available to her. We get to see her interactions with her extended cop family and her real family (including her ex-husband who married her sister), see her go through triumph, loss and personal trauma. Karin Murphy is a character who refuses to be cowed by the things that go bump in the night and is determined to ‘bump’ back.

So, the important part about creating characters is not that they be perfect, far from it. One of the big issues I see come up about Superman is that he’s not a character but an ideal which, of course, is the very reason for Clarke Kent’s existence. Realistically there is no need for Kent but that is who Superman was growing up and serves to keep him tied and connected to the planet and the people he defends. Any character has to have flaws if they’re to remain someone the audience can identify with and, if we can’t identify because they’re too perfect of too flawed then they shouldn’t be the central focus of the story even if their name’s on the cover. Take figures like The Punisher, Jason Voorhee’s or Michael Myers. As a long-time fan of Frank Castle my biggest criticism of the movies and Netflix show is when they try and force character on him. All credit to Gerry Conway, John Romita Snr and Ross Adru for creating Punisher but my favourite stories about him are the one’s where he’s treated like Voorhees and Myers, seldom seen and terrifying when he is. Garth Ennis does it very well. In that way all three of these killers are not unlike the shark in Jaws, not characters but force-of-nature level threats and the stories become about the people trapped in the situation with them.

Another question that come up (particularly among younger writers) in the fantasy or sci-fi genre is ‘Are my characters too powerful?’ and I would say, as long as they’re fully developed characters, probably not. It doesn’t matter that you’re writing Superman or Zeus, you don’t need Kryptonite or Hind’s blood (according to Hercules: Legendary Journey’s) to put the MC’s ‘in peril’. A creative writer can put more than a characters body in danger, imagine if Lex Luthor engineered a situation where Superman killed Louis Lane as collateral damage. I mean, in the movies he breaks one of his father rules to bring her back when she dies in the earthquake, how much worse if it were not that he arrived too late but that it was his own fault? Another example of a near immortal protagonist that comes to mind are the stories of Lazarus Churchyard by Warren Ellis and drawn by D’Israeli. A convicted criminal, sentenced to death is experimented on and ends up as a kind of living synthetic plastic. Functionally immortal the stories of the character span take place four-hundred years after the experiments and the characters own dysfunction at his longevity are a driving force. Churchyard is actively looking for a way to die. That said, having a character with godlike power probably has a short shelf-life (as indicated by Churchyards short run) unless you are Superman but they do keep finding ways to make the Man of Steel vulnerable. It’s a classic Brawn vs Brain story, Supes vs Luthor just as the Hulk faces down the Leader time and again.

At the end of the day, powers and abilities are what a character can do, not who they are and, if your audience don’t identify with who that character is they’re not going to care about what they can do, no matter how cool you think it is. Characters don’t have to be nice either but they should have the capacity for it from time to time. I remember how I fell out of love with the show House played by Hugh Laurie, there came a point, beyond the medical procedural, when the MC’s personality stopped being entertaining as a function of the story and just became abrasive to me. Making something new is hard, but nothing worth doing for long is easy.

I love stories, this might be painfully obvious since I dedicate most of my time to creating them. But there are some special stories out there that I wanted to touch on today. I know I talk about writing and then most of the references I make in my blog relate to movies and that’s because I have things on in the background whilst I write and I have an enduring love for audio/visual stories, I try to write my book as if I were watching them on-screen.

The stories I want to talk about today are the one’s that take a contemporary setting and then introduce a fantastical element to them. These stories aren’t pure fantasy or science fiction or horror but the best of them are elegant combinations of our world with others or extraordinary tales of daring do grounded by real world themes.

The first of these that I really recognised for what it was, was a film called Big Fish (2003 – Directed by Tim Burton) starring Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney. A man nearing his death relates the fantastical story of his life to his estranged son in an attempt to reconcile their relationship. It is a bittersweet tale but one full of fantasy and wonder. Another was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009 – Directed by Terry Gilliam), a mystical carnival attraction is brought back to life by a mysterious huckster (played by Heath Ledger and, after his sad passing, by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell). The mystical mirror which is the centre piece of the attraction offers viewers a choice between enlightenment and blessed ignorance and is the result of a deal Parnassus made with the devil centuries before. Beyond the wonderful counter play of the magical world within the mirror and the dull and superficial world outside there is the story of how three A-list performers stepped forward to help finish a project marred by the sad death of the lead actor as a tribute to a young talent taken under tragic circumstances.

There have been others and the list may not be as high-brow as the first two entries, Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter (2012 – Directed by Timur Bekmambetov) and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016 – Directed by Burr Steers) while period pieces still embody the carefree combination of the ‘real’ with fantastical elements. The stirring interpretation of the Gettysburg Address in the former would not be out of place in a serious biopic piece and it’s that attention to detail that keeps bringing me back to that particular film.

There are others for sure, Pans Labyrinth (2006 – Guillermo del Torro) or the film Secondhand Lions (2003 – Tim McCanlies) and (although to a lesser extent) The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot (2019 – Robert D. Krzykowski) all speak to something within and that something is, to me, that same part that compelled me to play make-believe as a child. That certain knowledge that there was more out there than the everyday which, as I grew and learned more about the world around me, started to fade through my cynical and oh-so-serious teenage years.

I love these films because of the wonder they evoke and the way in which they present alternative takes on events without apology for being anything but what they are. Another thing that I feel characterises these stories is that, as much as they strive to provoke that sense of wonder they also carry a sense of melancholy, of the loss of that same innocence and sense of wonder as we get older. And that is something I, and maybe you, are trying to rekindle in others through our stories because it is something we need to preserve. The world is a cynical place, it could always use a little more wonder in it.

Content Warning: Politics

I have, so far, tried to keep my personal politics out of this blog but, today, I’m going to be discussing in more detail the panel I sat upon at Dublin Worldcon 2019. The theme was ‘How Creators and Fans Respond to Political Unrest’ and I cannot discuss that subject without sharing my own views. It is also an important question for all of us who create to consider. Do we attempt to keep our content free of politics? Or do we embrace and announce our personal opinions or explore the opinions of those we disagree with?

So, upon the bright and sunny morning of the Thursday of Worldcon, I trotted down toward the Point Square Odeon to sit on a panel that had been the source of some anxiety for me. A week or so before it was to be my first panel ever and the weight of the subject was quite daunting given the Global Political Climate. What were my intentions? Was I out to cause some uproar, did I want to avoid offending anyone, what was I going into this room to do? As I met and greeted the moderator, John R. Douglas (a Canadian National living in America) and the other panelists, Teresa Nielsen Hayden of Tor Books (a U.S. National), Michi Trota of Uncanny Magazine (a U.S. born Filipino) and Julia Rios (a U.S. born Latinx) I started to get an idea of  what I (a white, cis, U.K. National) had to offer.

We all introduced ourselves to the audience (a smaller gathering than I had expected but fiction is about escaping reality so it makes sense) and spoke a little about ourselves. Michi is a San Francisco resident and, although it is a ‘Sanctuary City’ and she is an U.S. resident, she still has concerns about I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or the police and carries all her ID with her at all times. She even exchanges texts with her partner to reassure them that she’s gotten to work safely and let them know when to expect her home. Julia passes for white, and has done since their family essentially erased all Latino cultural elements from their upbringing so that they would pass, and even then they carry all their documents around in case of I.C.E. even John voiced concerns. Although he is a white male and therefore less likely to draw the casual attention of those organisation because he is an ‘alien’ living and working within the borders of an America that is rapidly growing more hostile to from outside it’s borders. I feel for Teresa, it’s quite heart-rending to hear someone apologising for the policies of their Government but it was not long after that I had to do the same.

The U.K.’s recent human rights record (and it’s not so recent record) is a disgrace. The stereotypical English persona (as I thought it a cross between Terry Thomas and Hugh Grant) has been almost completely replaced by the image of Football Hooligans, Racists and Neo-Fascists. ‘The Donald’ (a phrase I would say came about after a tan-Trump over not being able to copyright the name) has bombastically presented his intentions to stop Southern and Middle Americans, refugee’s from poverty, corrupt Governments and drug Cartels (but not, importantly, active war zones) entering the U.S. but, the U.K.’s Conservative Government have (with the assistance of their partner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch) have been demonising immigrants and refugee’s and actively blurring the line between the two, for over a decade now. The Syrian Refugee camps are still in Calais and, between restricting the number of refugee’s allowed into the U.K. and generating the so-called ‘Hostile Atmosphere’ toward immigrants, Conservative PM’s like Cameron, May and Johnson have personally contributed to a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions. If you then factor in austerity and the ongoing erosion of our Social Care system and support for the Aged, the Disabled and anyone beneath a certain income bracket and you see the class divide isn’t going away and the subtle, sinister attacks by certain elements of the social elite are progressing with thoughtless cruelty against the most vulnerable people in society.

So where does that leave us creatives? With comedy satires like ‘Yes Minister?’ and ‘The New Statesman‘ actually becoming more accurate representations of the goings-on of Government has Satire lost it’s teeth? With Dystopian fictions like Orwell’s ‘1984‘ and Alan Moore’s ‘V for Vendetta‘ more representative of our media and social culture what do we do? The world is a far more cynical place than it has ever been and we haven’t really touched on Corporate Culture of Religion yet (although, if your deity or scripture compels you to enact violence against other over a difference of belief you might as well raise an altar to Ash Ketchum in my opinion), so what is our message? Times have changed since Aesop’s fables and the stories we consume are more complex. Moral ambiguity as found in ‘Hannibal‘, ‘Dexter‘ and ‘The Punisher‘ is far more commonplace. We live in a time where the heroes don’t always win and the villains don’t always come to justice, times when the ‘good guys’ are found to have their own dark secrets and the ‘bad guys’ are shown to be not monsters but simply flawed people raging against the circumstances that created them. In times like this do we have to dig deeper? Become more aggressive or extreme in our storytelling? Or should we wind back to simpler values and clearer moral lines?

What I learned from appearing on that panel is this, for as long as I write stories I will stand beside those who can’t stand for themselves. I will represent and normalise the minorities who suffer erasure, misrepresentation and bigotry in the wider world and I will try to teach my readers the virtue of simple acts of kindness, compassion and acceptance in the hopes that they carry that forward day-to-day. Over the coming years I might create worlds of wonder and fantasy but none of those will matter if I cannot live in this one.

As I’ve said before, writing isn’t nearly as easy as it sometimes seems. I can go for days without laying down anything that I’d class as ‘good’ words or even any words from time to time. The seemingly insurmountable obstacle of the blank page is often a very hard thing to overcome, especially when the Four Horsemen of Procrastination (Napping, Snacks, Social Media and Minor Chores, a meme cartoon by Ellis) raise their cowled heads in your work space. I’ve written before about overcoming the block and about self care but I thought that, today I might write about aspects of writing that might stir your creativity and encourage you to fill the void.

Exposition – many publishers and editors frown upon ‘too much’ exposition. It’s one of the major criticisms of even seminal works like J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. As a writer I want me readers to understand the world in which the story is set but I also want to move the story along at a brisk pace so it becomes a juggling act. I’ve read books that threw me in at the deep end, explaining little but building the world over an extended period, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Poison Study book one of the Chronicles of Ixia by Maria V. Snyder is one I recall fondly. So again, the juggling act, how much it ‘too much’ and how do we as writers avoid getting bogged down?

Sometimes you can reassign exposition as character interplay. Have two characters discuss what you’re trying to describe instead of using straight prose. Then you can colour the subject with each characters opinions and give it more emotional weight. If you’re writing from a 1st person perspective you can do that as well, you’re writing your characters thoughts at that point and, whether they’re a hopeless romantic or a little salty or anything in between you can use that too. If you find yourself writing your exposition as straight prose though, look at the language. You want to be as concise as you can without being bland. Use evocative, visceral words to stir a readers own perception of whatever you’re describing and keep the voice Active rather than Passive.

Scene setting – When I write or when I read I like to ‘see’ what’s being described, like a movie in my head. With a few additions within a paragraph about the sights, smells and even the extra’s populating the scene you can evoke that kind of mental picture in the reader and get them more involved in the world within the pages. Again, avoid passive voice and try to keep your language emotive and compelling but try to avoid blank set writing when you can. That’s not to say don’t do it at all, I mean, when ‘Hulk’ (directed by Ang Lee) came out in 2003 I was one of the initially disappointed viewers but, the scene with Eric Bana and Nick Nolte sharing dialogue on what was essentially a bare stage was one of the high points of the film for me and I loved it, however! That scene was carried on the actors performances and the dialogue itself was the focus. The dialogue and characters in a book need to really come across if you’re writing that kind of scene.

Character Building – How do you build a character without reams and reams of flashback and exposition? It’s easy enough to focus on their goals within the narrative but the reader also want’s to know who they are  and the best way to do this is by having them react to other characters and telling the audience how they react. If a secondary character brings up a certain sports team in conversation, does the character they’re talking to like sport? Do they support their own team? Do they hate it and if so do they show that or hide it? That’s quite a banal example but the details, ticks and mannerisms of characters matter. They’re like micro-expressions that (at time of writing) distinguish us from robots or CG characters (a lot of them anyway, animators are cunning creatures) these mannerisms help the writer get to know the character.

So there we go, three things to look at in your writing, things to think about which, I hope, will help provoke creativity. As an aside I have a few thoughts on avoiding the Blank Page trap entirely in the form of habits I’m building myself. Now, I read somewhere that Steven King regurgitated the old adage “You’re not a Writer unless you Write” (although I can’t credit the man himself with the quote) and I’ve had a back and forth relationship with it ever since. At first I rebelled against it, I was writing a book (Camelot 2050: Black Knight) ergo I *was* a writer. Over the ensuing years I occasionally struggled with this outlook, maybe my youthful confidence got shaken by life experience and a little impostor syndrome crept in and, even after self-publishing three books I hesitated to bestow the lofty title upon myself until, at Dublin Worldcon, someone swung by my stall and, over the course of the discussion followed me on Twitter,

“You can take the ‘aspiring’ off your profile now. You have three books out.”

And that brief exchange convinced me. You don’t have to be a ‘professional’, you don’t have to be making a living at it, you don’t even have to have a book out right now, this second. You can and will be a writer.

Getting back to my point, as much as I resent the idea that you need to write *all the time* to be counted a writer there is a little nugget of truth under that bombastic statement. I’ve spoken about ‘waiting for inspiration’ but you don’t have too. The very act of writing on a regular basis, of building a habit and a routine can help you train your brain to switch into a creative process and then you don’t have to wait for inspiration, you’ll have a regular Skype appointment with it.

I also speculated (some time ago now) that having multiple projects might help. I was working on my novels and some contract work at the time. Now I’m working on two novels and two short stories and I have to say it does help (me at least.) I have two stories set in new worlds and two expanding a very familiar one so, whatever my mood, I can swing between those stories and maintain my flow. You don’t have to be seriously considering publishing everything you write of course, start a project as an exercise, see where it takes you, it’s the opportunity to broaden your creative opportunities that counts.

As a writer I have ideas about how violence and sex applies in my work. When I was working on the Camelot 2050 Trilogy I will admit I wasn’t too sure whether I was writing a book for adults or young adults. I simply follower the story and wrote what came to mind. When it came to uploading the stories I had to age bracket them and I decided (after some discussion with my editor) that I could include them in the Young Adult bracket, but why? I can admit I might have been tempted to ‘coddle’ the YA audience and market my series as adult but my eyes were opened after reading some recent YA books. The main different between YS and Adult fiction is that the protagonists are young people themselves and the PoV is intended to be relatable to a younger audience but, what other differences are there?

I’ve mentioned before books are not governed by the same age restrictions as films, television programs and music. As such there is no limitation on what books can be bought by an individual of any age except that imposed by the point of sale vendor (the cashier at the bookshop). So what really separates YA books from Adult books?

The thing that immediately leaps to mind is sex, would/should a book intended for young adults include detailed scenes of a sexual nature? I would argue ‘Yes’, I mean, how are rapidly maturing teens to learn about the emotional side of relationships/sex? The other options are the Sex Ed/Life Experience classes at school (and in my term those where more clinical/factual than anything else) or by the frankly dubious (in terms of encouraging healthy emotional relationships) medium of porn. The fact is that there are hundreds books available in the YA bracket that deal with budding physical relationships and the inherent ups and downs so, moving on…

Sexual Violence/Abuse, these you might think are off the cards for YA novels but, again that’s not true. Young people who suffer sexual assault can’t always speak out at the time about it for fear of their abuser but there are examples in the genre written by survivors of such abuse about their experiences. While it’s horrendous that such abuse takes place it’s at least some comfort to know that these books exist so that those suffering might find some solace in reading the experiences of others to give them some idea of how to escape their own situation and to assure them that there is life after the horror. It’s essential in the case of abuse in YA novels (at least in my opinion) that the writer knows what they’re writing about, that the subject isn’t trivialised or employed as a simple emotional hook.

Violence. How violent is too violent? I must say I got a surprise when I read the first book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, a story about a teenage girl who gets caught up in a world of magic and mystery with an animate skeleton detective as her guide. While it avoided any sexual content the violence was, in places, pretty hardcore. Not overly graphic but not exactly shied away from. There are violent YA books, as many or more as there are YA books with sexual content and, if the violence isn’t close and personal there are examples of broader, more horrific acts that have achieved quite a deal of acclaim. The Hunger Games is a story about a young person forced to fight other young people in a glorified gladiatorial competition for the entertainment of a fascist regime, The Maze Runner is a group of young people held at the centre of a horrific scientific experiment and Enders Game is about children being trained to enact genocide against an alien race, whether it’s actually a YA novel is the source of some debate but the film is a 12 in the UK. Again the important aspect of writing this material for adolescents is not to ignore the weight of the subject, not to glorify the violence but acknowledge the emotional impact and aftereffects of violent acts.

Swearing is an odd duck isn’t it? We’ve long had the dichotomy that portraying sex, as a physical act of love or consent, will immediately get a film an 18 rating where-as displaying acts of  gratuitous, visceral violence will get you a 15 in most cases… as long as you avoid the swears. Sexual swearwords will bump a films rating up as sure as showing a full frontal pair of breasts but is that the same in books? Well, no. Because they’re not classified in the same way, short of reading the entire book yourself how are you going to know if a book contains swearing? Swearing is pervasive throughout society so it’s hard to keep young people from experiencing it, in fact it’s the prohibition of bad language that makes it so attractive to the young. Cursing and swearing are likely to appear in some YA books at some level but, unlike sex or violence it’s unlikely you’ll get a forewarning in the blurb. As to the matter of whether YA books *should* have swearing in them, is it appropriate to the situation? They’ll experience it in real life so way swaddle them away from it in literature? It’s a decision for parents to make at the end of the day and might seem trivial but, held up alongside sex and violence it’s the easiest one to employ in acts of casual cruelty so the issue still carries at least some weight for consideration.

Of course there are myriad other heavy subjects that YA novels touch upon, parental separation, bullying, depression, suicide and it’s important that they do. These books normalise such feelings and help those going through them understand that there *is* a way through them. The main difference between YA and Adult fiction that I can find is that YA authors go to lengths to explore these issues for an audience with limited or less life-experience whilst adult books tend to skip the emotional details, assuming that the audience understands. You don’t have to shy away from difficult subjects to write YA fiction but you should be responsible in how you approach it because you are influencing the opinions of a young audience and they will carry those opinions on with them until challenged.

Just as a final note, in looking at YA fiction for this blog one book has kept coming up and has been presented as a thoughtful piece covering many difficult subjects. Stay a Little Longer by Bali Rai might be a helpful piece for those struggling with approaching some of the heavy themes discussed in this blog.

This is a topic I have sadly overlooked so far in these blogs but, not only is it important to encouraging sales, it can be fun too. You’ve probably heard the old saying ‘The first bite is with the eyes,’ well that applies to just about everything (not just food) and books are no different.

Self Publishing, of course, allows you total creative control over your covers and, whilst that’s another job it does let you look around to find exactly what you want. I’ve come across self-published books with amazing covers and some with rather questionable ones.

I was lucky enough to have been working on a project with Isolation Games while I was looking for a cover for my first book. Although I’d investigated several services online (one Facebook service I stumbled across was asking a lot of money for a frankly underwhelming product) I hadn’t come to  a decision when I saw the proposed artwork for Age of Steel. That was when I was introduced to ArtStation and Omercan Cirit who has done all the artwork linked to the Camelot 2050 Trilogy.

ArtStation is an invaluable resource for self publishers. It’s an online gallery of artists portfolio’s (as well as job listings for Artists). Here you’ll find artists who work in a variety of mediums on canvas and screen and every style you could hope to find from comic the hyper-realistic. The artists themselves rank from the casual hobbyist to concept artists from the film and gaming industry. Via ArtStation you can contact the artist who catch your eye and ask if they’ll do commission work. The important part of this, as much as getting a quality product that fits your requirements, is to have a binding agreement with your artist. You’ll be making a profit based on their work as the cover art is the first thing that will draw a reader to your book. An upfront payment for the piece and making sure the artist is credited (either on the cover or within the book) should secure you the rights to use the work.

Another important thing is to find an artist you can work with. Omercan and I conversed quite regularly about what was going on in the piece. After I sent the brief (including dimensions, that’s very important) Omercan came back to me with several layout options, silhouette’s to set the position of the important aspects of the cover image and we went from there. Now I can’t say that that’s how every artist works, artists being as unique in their processes as writers, but it was a good fit for me.

More things to consider at this point are how you’re going to layout the cover. Is the image going to be a band between colour blocks on which you’ll place the title and blurb or are you intending to impose those in the image. If that’s the case you need to make sure that nothing too integral to the image is happening in those areas you intend to put things.

Of course, the Artwork you receive doesn’t have to be restricted to the covers of your books. I use Omercan’s art as standing banners to draw people to my tables at conventions, the pieces he does are incredibly hi-res and blow up to large sizes with no loss in quality. I also use the images on my business cards which makes them stand apart too.

In preparation for Worldcon I asked Omercan to produce a piece showing my main cast in a more candid style and a campaign setting. This was for a promotional postcard for the collected sets I’d arranged. Ultimately I credit Omercan for 90% of people who approach my table at conventions (some of them know me already) and a fair percentage of my online sales too. They wouldn’t read the blurb if their eye’s weren’t caught by the art.

Worldcon was an amazing experience, I can’t begin to express my thanks to the organisers, the programme staff, the dealer room liaisons, the attendee’s and new friends I’ve made, and even the Dublin Convention Centre staff who helped over the five days of this convention. Now that it’s done I can go into a bit more depth about my own involvement and what I’m taking away with me from Dublin 2019.

So, having spoken some before about the convention generally I’m going to talk about why I went along. Worldcon wasn’t what I would consider a trade convention like the ShowMasters events in London or the other Film and Comic cons, it was more akin to EasterCon by Ytterbium but on a much larger scale. Worldcon is the annual setting for the Hugo Science Fiction awards and attracts attendee’s, contributors and fans from all over the world. Eastercon attracts around 900 visitors while Worldcon tops out around 5000, so there were a great many opportunities to be had.

As I said I wouldn’t consider it a trade con but I did have a trade table and I was there selling my works because, for a self-publishing author, it is really important to get in point-of-contact sales to get your work into the hands of people who will enjoy it. Having a table is an expense but one that you can hopefully recoup. The dealers room is also a great place to talk to publishers and promote yourself (although you don’t *need* a table yourself to do so). Over the course of the week I have (hopefully) made some ties with a couple of indie publishers which might prove fruitful down the line. I also got a surprise on the first day of the Con when, a few hours after doors open, George R.R. Martin walked past my stall. He didn’t stop to look and I didn’t really want to trouble him so I just let him go on his way, the same applied when Gail Carriger made a brief appearance in the trade hall on the Thursday and, much as I would have liked to have exchanged a few words with her I was engaged with my own customers so maybe some other time.

As well as that I paid for a membership which would allow me, not only to attend the programme items which were of interest but also to take part in the programme itself. I was lucky enough to be asked to sit on two panel items, a discussion of Celtic Mythology, how it has been appropriated and changed over the centuries and how it is represented and influences modern fiction and a discussion on how Creators and Fans respond to Political Unrest.

Not having sat on a panel before the Political Unrest discussion was quite a daunting subject (especially as it was the first item I was offered). Luckily the Celtic Mythology panel was offered to me soon after and, taking place before Political Unrest, would give me a chance to ‘warm up’ as it were. Both panels had their challenges, Celtic Mythology was a very popular talk, full room with three deep standing at the back so quite intimidating for that but with the experienced writers and a resident historian on the panel besides me I like to think the talk was informative and entertaining. Political Unrest was a much more intimate event, smaller audience but with a much greater weight of emotional material to cover. That said I hope I acquitted myself well and at least one of my fellow panelists did stop by my stall later to reassure me that I had.

Besides the panels and the dealers room there where plays and concerts and party’s to attend, people to meet and much fun to be had. Of course there were struggles, although they were limited to factors surrounding the Con rather than attached to. Driving in an unknown city (especially one with as complex a one-way system as Dublin) and issues with my hotel booking are occasionally to be expected when you go abroad or even when you travel within your own country. Any convention, whether as a trader or an attendee will likely have it’s challenges so you just have to roll with it and deal with them as best you can.

I will move forward with my writing forever thankful that I took the opportunity to attend WorldCon Dublin and ever so grateful to the friends I met there and made there and strive toward a time when I can go along, sit on more panels and maybe host a Kaffeeklatch or a Literary Beer (writers hosting small, social gatherings with the attendee’s). It truly has been a life changing experience and really fired my creativity and ambitions.

Within the next couple of days I will be leaving for Dublin and Worldcon 77 and, not content with selling my books, I have also signed up to the programme schedule. Now that the programme has been released I can, at least, tell you which talks I’ll be sitting in on.

So, on Thursday at 4:00pm I’ll be in the Eccocem Room with Kathryn Sullivan, Dr Kristina Perez, Deirdre Thornton and Kerry Buchanan and we’ll be discussing Celtic Mythology and how faithfully the legends are represented in modern literature and on Friday at 11:30am I’ll be in Odeon 2 with John R. Douglas, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Michi Troya and Julia Rios and we’ll be discussing how Creators and Fans respond to Political Unrest.

Now, with the shameless plug information shared, why would a self-published writer think themselves an authority worthy of sitting in on panels and sharing their opinions with a room full of fans? Well, at it’s most basic level it *is* about visibility, it’s an opportunity to put yourself in front maybe a hundred prospective customers and make an impression so that they think ‘yeah, this writers books might be worth reading’. It’s also a chance to network and meet others in your field and compare notes (albeit in front of a room full of people). But there’s a deeper connection perhaps, by becoming a writer you’ve essentially declared to the world that ‘I have something to say!’ and, while most of your statements are going to be presented in literary form (and some of us are more than happy for it to stay that way) there are those among us who will revel in the chance to get out there and talk to an audience.

Again, why as a self-published author, is my opinion of any value to these discussions? Well, in any topical discourse there are different levels of awareness to the subject. There are those who might have studied it all their lives and there are those who have just stumbled upon it and many levels of knowledge in between. In regards to Celtic Mythology I personally have a long standing casual interest and, more recently, I have undertaken research as part of paid projects as well as my own research for my own literary efforts. That puts me at maybe ‘passingly familiar’ but, another aspect I’ve looked into which might set me apart from, say a Professor of Celtic Mythology is my interpretation of an audiences understanding. The broader general understanding of any kind of mythology has been influenced over time by different creators portrayals of different original stories and by the adoption of hand picked elements from those stories for new, different purposes. So, by having different experience and different sources I can bring a broader understanding as long as my sources are verified and sound. I will and have been doing additional research before the panel just to cement my foundation of knowledge before the event.

The point is your very individuality makes your opinion valid. If you write crime and mystery then your opinion of how to write such a story makes you as valid to a panel as would be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s or Agatha Christie’s it’s the differences of experience that bring vibrancy to a panel. If everyone on the panel agree’s then there is no real, valid discussion, just a bunch of statements of fact.

So, I might not have gone into a lot of depth over some of the things I’ve been doing in preparation for Dublin Worldcon. This is a big opportunity for me so I’ve taken a few steps to up my game for this event.

First up it’s these:-

25mm pin badges of leFay and Essex Heraldry, the Dragon design is mine (a simple matter of Microsoft Paint) whilst the Essex Seaxes have been redesigned by a good friend of mine (Rob Leigh of Isolation Games) in a more modern style to reflect a sports brand as well as a house heraldry. I have one hundred of each and every purchase of the boxed set gets the pair.

This is the stock as it stands. you can see the books. I’ve got enough to assemble 50 sleeved sets plus an extra bulk of copies of Black Knight for people who just want to try the first book before committing to the trilogy. You can also see the sleeves (graced with the Dark Magic cover art by Omercan Cirit) and the postcard illustrations of the main characters which go into each set, plus the badges.

Here’s a better look at the component parts for the sets. Now, all of this is going to go together on a stand setup much like the one I used at Collectormania back in June pictured below.

With all this assembled (and the two panel talks I’m sitting in on) here’s hoping that Worldcon helps me to get Camelot 2050 out there to greater heights and a wider audience.

Todays blog is more of an update than anything else to tell you you a bit about what I’m going to be doing at World Con 2019 in Dublin.

I’ve not been one for conventions until I published my own books and started doing the circuit myself so Worldcon didn’t really enter my scope of experience until 2017 when it was held in Helsinki but, bids are held very much in advance so Dublin was already on the cards by that point and an opportunity not to be missed. As much as starting out in conventions was daunting at times Worldcon (A rather prestigious convention with quite a history behind it) is something else. Additional travel, longer stay, more stock and, in order to help promote my series, additional merchandise to appear alongside the books themselves. I will admit it has been stressful at times but I haven’t fallen far short of the goals I set for this event.

*Edit* It occurred to me after I posted this that a little background is in order. Worldcon is the annual event held by the World Science Fiction Society (although it is hosted by different cities every year). The event was first held in New York in 1932 and (except for the years of 1942-1945 for obvious reasons) has run every year since. After travelling city to city in the States for many years Worldcon first went international in 1957 when it came to London, England and since then has been around the globe visiting Heidelburg, Toronto, Melbourne and, has even bee hosted in the Hague in August of 1990. It has also played host to many notables of the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Science community in it’s many years. Robert A. Heinlein in ’41 and ’61, Isaac Asimov in ’55, Arthur C. Clarke in ’56 and Ursula K. Le Guin in ’75. This year, as well as writers, artists and actors the show has Dr’s Jeanette Epps and Norah Pattern in attendance.

Now it’s two weeks to go and my preparations are, by and large, done. So, what can you expect from me at Dublin Worldcon?

Well, I’ll be selling copies of Camelot 2050 for a start and, as well as the usual loose copies I’ll have sleeved sets available, each one with a specially commissioned postcard featuring the main characters and a pair of original pin badges to go with the set (postcards and badges also available separately).

As well as the stall I’ll be on panels Thursday and Friday (although I can’t, at this point divulge which one’s, you’ll have to take a look at the program) so keep an eye out for me. I *can* say that the topics are really exciting and I hope that the talks themselves will be enlightening as well as entertaining.

That’s all I have for you for now, I hope to see you at Worldcon or any of the conventions on my schedule for the coming year. There may or may not be a blog entry next week so keep an eye out. Until then it’s ‘beannachte a dhéanahm anois’ from me!