Looking Back at Revision

For me, revision is an intuitive process. When I say that, though, I should add that I feel that intuition is mind working at a fine level of the intellect. Intellect and “feeling” work together, each augmenting the other.

The revision of tightening (deleting), expanding (adding), and polishing (substituting) works first on what feels right, but there is always the quiet voice of the intellect providing the reasons for the feeling.

As I’ve mentioned before, I tend to write my beginnings many times before moving on. Those rewrites are where I emphasize tone and word flow. Once the words create the tone (once the tone feels right), then I move on to finishing the rough draft.

Below, I’ve provided two excerpts from my Wattpad page where the story “A Murmuration of Dragons” is posted as two parts, the first being the finished story (unless I change it), and the second being the first draft of the story (and by that, I mean the story after I’d established tone and then pushed through for the first time).

With this short story, I see the revision has focused the prose more on tone and immediate experience rather than backstory, even though I am filling in and establishing the reality of the story. I think the revision works more to move the story to its climax by establishing an emotional context.

Other readers might like the original, actually! This post is a closure for me. I’m looking forward to moving on to another project, another story--at least, for now. Read, enjoy, and maybe even read the other stories posted on Wattpad. They are the two shorter stories of the three short story ebook "Who Listened to Dragons."

Excerpt from the revised (completed) story

Garden lore says "weeds for the wildwood," that every vegetable patch should have a spot uncultivated, that "wholly wild is holy wild." Perhaps craft elders felt the same and left Dragon's Head untouched. Superstition runs deep, even when "as dead as magic" is the common wisdom nowadays, for who has seen magic? Yes, there are stories, but who has seen magic? Our mouths do not always speak our hearts, though, and words may veil rather than reveal. Perhaps that was the way of it on Half Street because Dragon's Head was let be, and the oddity of that neglect was somehow too strangely idle a thought for busy tradefolk.

Caul said that suited him fine, Caul who ate and drank the sky above Dragon's Head, either that or nothing. He certainly slept sky, all those nights up there alone, earth for his bed and stone for his pillow.

I wouldn't admit to be looking after him from my perch on Old Jin's roof, not me, of Fingers fame and all of twelve years. It didn't take much minding, anyway. Somehow I knew he was safe when he climbed those bare bones, riding his dragon, whinnies and all.

The need to survive can birth strange and wonderful alliances, and one of boy and stone was not exceedingly strange. Who has not played at being king on the mount? Seed planted wild must root deeply, and dreams dared in sunlight burn an invisible flame.

Excerpt from the unrevised (rough draft) story

Such had not happened, though, had apparently never occurred to some greedy guildsman or ambitious matron. Dragon's Head was just let be, and the oddity of that neglect was somehow too idle a thought for busy folk, which Cobb said suited him just fine. Sometimes Cobb would look at me as he rode the stones, but he never waved and I never thought to wave at him. Cobb was a strange one, one we looked after--or would have, if he had ever needed it. He didn't, though. I think Cobb ate and drank sky. He certainly slept it, all those nights alone on Dragon's Head.

My gut told me a lot about Cobb, or maybe it was my heart. I knew that when he climbed onto those bare bones of stone and rode the dragon he was safe. It wasn't that I knew he felt safe; somehow my gut told me he was safe.

I knew in my bones he was safe on Dragon's Head, knew that he knew in his bones he was safe. No children ever challenged him sitting there in plain sight. It was as if he were veiled by wings of forgetfulness. I saw him, though, and I'll never forget what I saw.

It was a strange alliance, boy and stone, but the need to survive can birth strange and wonderful alliances. Seed planted wild must need root deeply.

I've found it an interesting process to publish a rough draft and then another, polished version of the story side by side. I don't know if I'll do this again. Probably not, but doing so has given me the opportunity to reflect some on how I create as a writer. I doubt if how I write and revise is unique, but self-reflection isn't such a bad thing.

Until the next post, good reading!

Draft 2 Complete--and Unification Continues!

Wattpad link for "Murmuration"

Draft 2 of "A Murmuration of Dragons" is now finished, although there are more revisions to come. It's a process. I've posted the story on Wattpad twice: the revised story and the original Draft 1, so anyone interested in seeing the changes can look.

Creation is a higher order thinking process called synthesis, a combining of possibilities into something new. The best beginning point for this process, of course, is the field of all possibilities at the source of thought. That way a writer or any artist has more choice.

This short story began as just that--a short story about a character called "Cobb," son of a cobbler. It transformed during the creative process, though.

1. Cobb became a secondary character, preceded by Fingers, a pickpocket.
2. Third person, focusing on Cobb, changed to first person point of view, from Fingers' perspective.
3. Cobb became the character Caul; Fingers became the character Gnossos, telling about his youth, when he was called Fingers.
4. The chararcter "Trot" was removed, and the character Old Jin was just mentioned in the story.
5. The "murmuration" idea was introduced to the story.

The short story will now also most likely be a prelude to the prequel of the novel The Stone Dragon. The prequel is titled A Mage That Gathers, and is about the youth of Alma-Ata, who is old in The Stone Dragon. Also, I may write the prequel from Gnossos' point of view, eight years after "Murmuration," or I may alternate between chronicles (reports to the Order of Thom) by Gnossos and third-person limited narrative of Alma-Ata.

This synthesizing, or taking diverse elements and creating one story, is an interaction of inner possibilities and, in the revision process, the existing reality of the words on the paper. I enjoy it, although I have to be careful I don't enjoy it so much that I never finish a project--a fantasy version of Apocalypse Now, off in the jungle (field of all possibilities) with no road home.

Enjoy the story at Wattpad.

Finished Draft 1 of "A Murmuration of Dragons"

Well, I've finished Draft 1, so now I have a completed short story. You can now read the end of the story. I'm proud that I've finished one time through, and am eager to begin revision. Revision is always a fun (and necessary) part of the writing process.

I've added the ending of the story and changed the original order on the Wattpad platform so that there are now two parts: the completed story that I am revising, and the original draft. That way you can see changes as they progress.

You can read both versions and follow the revision at Wattpad.
"A Murmuration of Dragons"

XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 

 Starlings return from the fields, wheeling the darkening sky. Be wary of hawks, be wary of the cutpurse, but when magic comes to Half Street, be especially wary of dragonfire.

 Being the chronicle of Gnossos, Supplicatory to the Order of Thom, Thomikos

XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX 

I'm also going to give myself a new experience today. The local library has a writing time every Wednesday from 9:30 to 12:00. I'm going to show up and work on the draft. Maybe I'll post a blog on the experience. Meanwhile, enjoy what I've done so far!

My Short Story Morphs: "A Murmuration of Dragons"

Photo source: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Creative writing is not only cognition: seeing from the inside out; it is also synthesis, seeing possibilities
from the outside in. This has happened with the short story I'm currently working on, "Magic Comes to Half Street."

It's new title is "A Murmuration of Dragons," and here's how the title and story change happened.

I ran across the video embedded below while goofing off on Facebook. My short story was lively in my awareness, even if in the background at that moment, and I thought, "What if the starlings were dragons?" A vision filled my mind, thousands of dragons afire with the setting sun, swirling around and above the main character of the story, a foreshadowing of future events and a visual representation of hidden forces at work.

How could I deny such a serendipitous gift?

A murmuration is the combining of "thousands of tiny starlings coming together to swoop and twist across the sky – morphing into one three-dimensional pattern after another; an aerial ballet performed with an amazing synchronicity as the tiny birds move like one huge shape-shifting organism," according to Ecology Global Network writer Penny Stalling's article "Mind-Blowing Starling Murmuration."

We'll see how the new wrinkle to my story works out. I'm optimistic.

Murmuration from Islands & Rivers on Vimeo.

Rough Draft Finished of "Magic Comes to Half Street"

Well, I've been writing mornings, and I just finished the rough draft of the fantasy story "Magic Comes to Half Street." It takes place in the Dragons of Blood and Stone universe, the same universe as my novel The Stone Dragon and the short stories in Who Listened to Dragons.

Here are some fragments from the end:

A door opened, a hoof clacked upon pavement, life stirred. Fire was behind the veil, gone, yet not quite veiled on the knoll.

Cobb looked to the sky, to the west, and a second sun winged its way to the mountains, already small with distance.

“In the mountains the dragon will not be bound. There is a veil between magic and the world, one we see or make. It is stronger here in the Empire, but now not so strong at Dragon’s Head, I think.” 

All dawns are the first day of creation. We are sunlight, we are aware. We are consciousness, meant to fly.

And now to make the short story better, to burn away the veil of lesser words until the right words burn brightly, accurately. Or at least to try.

Starting a Story, the Process

I'm not sure how others start a story, whether it's a short story, a novel, or a saga. Different

Dragon's Head, Bjorn Baklien, Flickr

ways, I suppose.

I know from my experience that I tend to start writing, whether with some outline or notes or not, and then I rewrite the beginning over and over until it feels right.

I've got this sense of the story, this feeling, and somehow I have to manage the words so that they flow in accord with that feeling. That sounds kind of mysterious, and maybe it is, I don't know. I do know that there's a point when I feel (that word, again!) that the tone created by word choice is what I want. Then I just blaze away, getting the piece written one time through.

Then comes the fun part--and I mean that. I get to rewrite. That's like cleaning the window. The first part, the beginning, is like busting a hole in the wall and installing the window. OK, the window's in, but all that dust and fingerprints and sales stickers . . . clean that off, make it disappear!

What remains is the view, and a wonderful one, I hope.

Right now I'm working on a short story, a fantasy set in the same reality as my novel The Stone Dragon. The story takes place on Half Street, an area on a hill above Oldtown, the hill spined with rocks called Dragon's Head. I've rewritten the beginning three or four times. I think now maybe the tone of the beginning is what I want, what I need.

Who knows, though? I guess I should know, but I'm going to have to let some time pass before I'm sure. I can keep pecking away at the story, though, in the meantime.

To be alone on Half Street was not easy, even for a boy of ten familiar with its nooks and crannies. Too many guildspeople hurried the pathways, shouldering tools or cloth samples or even newly tooled shoes, as Cobb's father would. Too many wagons or barrows stirred dust or mud or dirty snow, depending on the season, for someone always needed a chimney cleaned, a door squared, a cracked tile replaced. Someone always needed a son to deliver a pair of evenngi slippers to an impatient lady, or a boy to feed the fire beneath the dye pot.

 That's the current beginning of the short story that's had the following titles: "A Dragon's Scale," "Dragon Dreams," and "Magic Comes to Half Street."

Now I feel I can write Cobb's story. I've managed to break through the best wall for the right view.

As for Cobb? Right now he's at Dragon's Head:

An odd place it was, a knob of stone still shaped by wild, what the builders and masons should have considered a challenge or an affront" . . . but the stones have not been cleared, "apparently never occurred to some greedy guildsman or ambitious matron of the crafts. Leave Dragon's Head alone, and it will leave you alone, Cobb thought, and he didn't even consider the oddity of the thought. How and why would a tangle of rock at the crest of a hill leave you alone?

What fun!

The Next Fantasy Story Is a Rewrite

Now that I've finished A Day Out with Mom, I want to spend some time writing some fantasy short stories set in the Dragons of Blood and Stone universe, eventually to compile them into a collection, Tales of the Stone Dragon Inn. It's like going on a journey in the universe of my imagination, five hundred to several thousand words at a time!

Here are some stories I've written and need to polish:

• a baker who conjures the spirits of his ingredients
• a sea dragon in a woman's body who has forgotten her true self
• a magician with the horrible power to grant to others what they really want
• a healer who starts with the soul . . . and a window
• a child who finds a beast within the river willows

Which one will I work on first? I don't really care! I'll make them all easily accessible (some were written a while ago and stuck in corners) and then set aside the time.

The world of the imagination is real. It just has that dreamlike quality of those times and places when we finally arrive for the first time at a long-awaited destination, at dawn or sunset, sky filled with wind and fire, the path before us and children in the distance, calling and laughing, expecting and unexpected guest.

Copyright 2014 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved 

Image Location

Free and Discounted Books During the Summer/Winter Promotion at Smashwords

For this July, my four books available at Smashwords will be free or discounted.

All you have to do is to go to the book's page, use the coupon, and download the e-Book. Smashwords formats the books for all platforms--e-readers, pads, and computers. Kindle (mobi) format is included.

Here is my Smashwords author page link, a handy portal to all my books. Download coupons are listed at the book sites (SW100 for 100% off and SSW75 for 75% off).

These books are available for free:

• I Write: Being & Writing (an introduction to consciousness-based writing & education)
• Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories (an intro to the Dragons of Blood & Stone universe)

 These books are available for 75% off:

•  The Stone Dragon  "Tom Kepler uses Glimmer's story to examine the nature of magic, of power, of consciousness, of the grand adventure of becoming." 
• Love Ya Like a Sister (a young adult novel, called "gritty" by some, where values prevail)

That means that all my books distributed through Smashwords are available either for free or for $1.00.

The sale will last for the entire month of July. You will find many Smashwords authors participate in this summer promotion.

Enjoy! And please review my books. Reviews are the life-blood of an author because of the insights they provide readers.

Tom Kepler Writing: Thanksgiving Week Free Downloads

For the week of Thanksgiving, I am offering free downloads of my books that are available at Smashwords. 

I am thankful to have the opportunity to make my books available, and I'm happy to share this offer with my readers.

The procedure for a free download at Smashwords is to link to the book's page (link provided below), and then "buy" the book, using the coupon code in order to download the book for free.

I Write: Being and Writing: My latest book, this is a compilation and rewrite of blog posts about writing. I address the relationship between the writer, the process of writing, and the written word. The coupon code for a free download is TV99H.

"I write." We have to consider both words in that declaration. We have to expand the container of knowledge, the mind, and also develop our writing skills. Learning how to write is a life-long process. It is one that demands dedication and humility and perseverance. It is one that requires a certain knack that is an integration of skill and comprehensive thinking. One might say, "As we are, so is our writing."

 The Stone Dragon: This is my fantasy novel that could be called "consciousness-based" fantasy because it explores the relationship between consciousness and magic. The coupon code for a free download is WR28H.

Dream magic is the most dangerous of magics because it is so difficult to control.  Apprentice mage Glimmer—Not a Glimmer of Magic—realizes this when he discovers that his apparent lack of magical talent is because his magic manifests only when he is dreaming.  His first attempt at dream magery conjures a dragon, and just before dying in dragonfire, Glimmer, in desperation, locks the dragon within the stones of his master’s house.  How, though, do you live in a house that is also a dragon?  And how can you even sleep—knowing that dream might slip to nightmare?

Love Ya Like a Sister: Be your own man. That’s what people say. But what if that includes having three girlfriends at the same time—and trouble with the law? My first novel published, LYLAS takes a "gritty" look at the world of teens, a young adult novel for grown-ups (in the words of two reviewers). The conflicts in the novel are met by a young man and his friends, and family, friendship, and personal integrity ultimately prevail. The coupon code for a free download is WG57A.

"The author has described Love Ya Like a Sister as young adult chick lit with a male protagonist. While that seems like a strange description, it’s a good one. Although chick lit should have a protagonist who is a chick, that is the only reason this book couldn’t be considered chick lit. It has the other defining elements, primarily being 'a personal and foible-filled journey toward self-understanding and self-awareness.'"  Big Al's Books and Pals

Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories: Set in the same reality as the fantasy novel The Stone Dragon, three short stories continue the magic of the novel. Two brothers--one the strange one, the other the brother of the strange one, desert and wyrm, river's daughters or river nymphs, soldiers or assassins, retribution or abomination . . . Visit a land where magic makes all things are possible.

I enjoyed exploring other possibilities in this universe, considering magic, geography, and history. I plan to eventually write more short stories for this series. The coupon code for a free download is XP37E.

"[The stories] silently work their way into your brain so that odd images and thoughts and layers of meaning hover around like smoke for days afterwards. Highly recommended." Goodreads Review

May you all have a happy and restful holiday, and if you enjoy reading my books, please write some reviews. Many thanks.

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

My Books Discounted 50% to Free During Smashwords' July E-book Sale

50% discount, 50% discount, and free: my e-books are on sale.

Smashwords Summer Winter Promotion--that's what it's called because it's summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the south.

My three e-books at Smashwords are discounted, and I hope you enjoy the sale.

• The Stone Dragon, discounted 50%, coupon code SSW50 ($2.50). Dream magic is the most dangerous of magics because it is so difficult to control. "The source that is not dreaming, sleeping, or waking . . . perhaps the salvation of us all. An interesting journey into the creation of reality from the source, enabled by a cup of cabbage tea."
• Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories, 100% discount, coupon code SSWIN, free book. Set in the same reality as the fantasy novel The Stone Dragon, three short stories continue the magic of the novel. Two brothers--one the strange one, the other the brother of the strange one, desert and wyrm, river's daughters or river nymphs, soldiers or assassins, retribution or abomination . . . Visit a land where magic makes all things are possible.
• Love Ya Like a Sister, discounted 50%, coupon code SSW50 ($1.50). "The author has described Love Ya Like a Sister as young adult chick lit with a male protagonist. While that seems like a strange description, it’s a good one. Although chick lit should have a protagonist who is a chick, that is the only reason this book couldn’t be considered chick lit. It has the other defining elements, primarily being 'a personal and foible-filled journey toward self-understanding and self-awareness.'" (from Big Al's Books and Pals review)

Right now I'm working on the revision of the sequel to The Stone Dragon, a novel titled Dragons of Blood and Stone. However, it's always nice to share books--and that includes mine.

On each of the links above, the Smashwords book page will open. The promotional code is included on that page to give you the savings. 
 

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved 

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit

from IMDb

 OK, just watch the trailer.


 Now that we've got your attention.

Even though the book The Hobbit precedes The Lord of the Rings, it appears in the trailer that Peter Jackson includes hints of what is to come in his movie version. This will, I suppose, create all these ties to the movie for fans who saw the trilogy first. I think this could be exciting.

Production still from The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey

Here is the link to The Hobbit Blog, the official site.

And here is some commentary from the writer Aidy from the blog Aidy Reviews.

The screenplay for The Hobbit is written by Fran Walsh, Philippa

Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, adapted from J.R.R.

Tolkien’s famous novel. The quest written by one Bilbo Baggins, a shire

loving Hobbit, who was whisked away on an adventure by the wizard

Gandalf , who tricked Bilbo into hosting a small party for 12 dwarves

who take Bilbo deep into the Misty Mountains, where he encounters the

creature Gollum, and finds the mysterious “one ring,” that is the focus

of The Lord Of The Rings tale.

The trailer serves as a long-awaited preview of what’s to come in the

movie—movies, I should say, Jackson decided to stretch the film into two

movies which gives them the opportunity to bring in some unique materiel

that’s not in the original Tolkien’s books. But what he is doing here is

this:  he’s giving fans of The Hobbit and LOTR series a broader

perspective of middle earth, by bringing in more visuals, landscapes,

and characters. You can see a little bit of this in the trailer. Also,

in the trailer you see the elf Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), who is one

of the featured characters in The Lord Of The Rings book trilogy– she

is not in the original tale of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

In the book and as it will be in the film, the wizard Gandalf (Ian

McKellen), disappears to participate in the White Council meetings–the

film will make note of those events. Also you see the “younger” Bilbo

Baggins (Martin Freeman), and a descriptive montage of his dwarven

companions–eager to reclaim the treasure the dragon Smaug stole. Even

more intriguing is that you will see and hear the song–poem about the

“Misty Mountains” being sung; however, what you do not see, is the

highly anticipated view of the dragon Smaug.  We also get to see and

hear, the creature Gollum (Andy Serkis), deep in the dark cave of the

Misty Mountains, where Bilbo finds “the One Ring.”

 Copyright retained by the respective sites linked to.

How Autobiographical Is Our Writing?

All novels are autobiographical, except the parts we make up.

How can we write other than what we know?  However, is a novel nothing other than a journalistic memoir?

My first novel, Love Ya Like a Sister, is a young adult novel that had a main character whose mother has died. My first wife passed away when my son was sixteen. The main character also has two sisters who are his neighbors, as did I when I grew up. The story is set in a small town that is much like the small town I taught school in for twenty-one years. 

My second novel, a fantasy novel, is about a young man, Glimmer, who is an apprentice magician who practices his magic only in his dreams. He has issues with dragons. How can that be autobiographical? The Stone Dragon is completely autobiographical, though, excepting the fact that I made it all up.

Actually, neither novel is autobiographical. It's too much fun as an author to make stuff up--much more fun than just writing about my life. However: all novels are autobiographical because they are based on the author's experience.

How do we resolve the paradox?

How do we write about pain or love or walking barefoot in the sand unless we have experienced those things? We do write from our experience, but we also selectively choose from our experience and extend, extrapolate, and transform those experiences into something new.

I have the experience of whacking my funny bone, and my elbow really hurts--for a bit. Almost everyone has had that experience. I use that experience when writing about pain. Or perhaps the needed experience of pain is different, so I remember the pain of getting my finger smashed in a door.

A first kiss in a relationship . . . a moment of discovery . . . jumping into a cold mountain stream . . . being thirsty after mowing the lawn on a hot summer afternoon . . . 

The universal value of the novel is the made-up storyline. A young man in a land where magic exists discovers his magical abilities and conjures a series of dragons--and must face the responsibility that comes with creation.

The point value of all the details of the novel can be derived from personal (or autobiographial) experience. Glimmer works in his garden--the weighty hand mattock, the warm earth in his hands, the prickly thistle to be pulled. I've experienced these things. I've seen movies and photographic magnifications of the boiling, roiling sun. Those experiences were useful in The Stone Dragon.

Perhaps it would be true to say that fiction writing is stitching the fabric of life into a new cloth, of pulling apart the old threads and weaving them into a new garment. We are the sum total of our experiences, plus a significant bit more. 

A novel is an exercise in autobiography, except for the parts that never happened. We tell the story we want to tell. Who cares what really happened?

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

The Setting of The Stone Dragon: a Field of All Possibilities

The following article was posted at Australian writer Rosanne Dingli's blog last Friday. I thought I'd share it with you.

Rosanne Dingli has published three works in which the island of Malta is of central importance: Counting Churches, The Malta Stories; Death in Malta; and her most recent work, Camera Obscura. Perhaps the old truism Write about what you know applies to Rosanne because she was born and raised on Malta, living there until she was twenty-seven years old. I'm guessing it's more than that, though. A familiar setting cannot only supply compelling detail for a story: a setting can also suggest compelling stories to a writer.

Rosanne has asked that I write a guest post, and setting seems appropriate, since Rosanne has used it to such great effect. I write fantasy and have published a fantasy novel, The Stone Dragon. The story came to me one Thanksgiving vacation: dragons, gnomes, and a protagonist called Glimmer. I started writing, and suddenly I was seven thousand words into the novel, which is now available in both print and e-formats. This reality has grown to include a sequel in draft version, Dragons of Blood and Stone, and short stories published as an e-book Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories.

I drew a map to aid me in the writing of The Stone Dragon, and that map grew and filled itself in as I wrote the first draft of Dragons of Stone and Blood. A funny thing then happened regarding that map. During this last winter vacation (I'm a school teacher in America), I wrote several short stories that were set in the fantasy reality of the novels. 

The stories all started with place. What if in this place a particular character had this conflict? What would happen? One short story begins off the map, to the south, and then moves onto the map. It also takes place two generations prior to Glimmer and The Stone Dragon. Another takes a character from The Stone Dragon and writes about that character prior to the novel. A third considers one reality of the fantasy novel--magical elemental water spirits--and explores the relationship of the season of the year to the behavior of the elemental spirits. All are set in specific places from the Dragons of Blood and Stone series: the Sand Barrens, The Easypeace River, and the Castle Madrone.

Having a reality with which one is familiar can both enrich one's writing and also inspire one's writing. I have more stories to tell. One is about a selkie at Seal Rock. Another is about rock gnomes and a young man named Cobb. I'm also waiting for a place name on the map to whisper to me an unexpected character and conflict.

Rosanne must know all about this. Her book Counting Churches, The Malta Stories consists of thirteen stories. Counting her novels set in Malta, it's apparent that the island speaks to her, tells her its stories. I'm happy to read the Maltese stories that Rosanne tells.

And I'm also happy to explore the fantasy reality of The Stone Dragon, to learn its stories and to tell them to you.

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

The Stone Dragon Showcased at Bargain eBooks

Bargain eBooks, a blog hosted by Holly Hook, features every 24 hours an ebook priced at $5 or below.

The Stone Dragon is bargain ebook #500.

"The author makes the point that magic is everywhere, in us, and around us, and at the core of everything . . . The dragons, of course, steal the show." --Pauline Ross, Goodreads review

Also consider an ebook of three short stories set in The Stone Dragon universe, Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories, priced at $0.99.

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Goodreads Review of Who Listened to Dragons, Three Stories, by Pauline Ross

from Goodreads reviews

by Pauline Ross, United Kingdom, used with permission

Read from February 25 to 29, 2012

I don't often read short stories - I'm more into sprawling multi-volume works at the moment - but this is a good reminder of what I'm missing. A seemingly innocuous and gentle ramble, and then - wham, the kick in the tail. Like a fine whisky, it slips down oh so smoothly, and then sets you on fire.

These three stories from the author of the wonderful The Stone Dragon have the same timeless, classic simplicity of the novel, with an almost whimsical surface hiding something much more profound underneath. The longest of the three, after which the book is named, is a charming tale of family and differentness and the magic that lies therein and much more besides, because this is the kind of writing where you can take out of it as many layers as you want - every time you look, there's something more there. It's also the one with the biggest emotional kick at the end. The second story, 'River's Daughter', is beautiful even though I'm not at all sure I understood much of it. My favourite is the last, 'T'uk's Dilemma', which elegantly explains an intriguing quirk of the novel.

All are written in a lyrical style which would bear reading aloud, and both the first and third could easily work as bedtime fairytales for children (but perhaps not 'River's Daughter' - 'Mummy, Mummy, what does "urging the last of his seed to release" mean?'). And all of them share another quality with the novel: they silently work their way into your brain so that odd images and thoughts and layers of meaning hover around like smoke for days afterwards. Highly recommended.

Copyrights retained by the author, used with permission

Three Short Stories to Publish as an Ebook

I've decided to publish three short stories as an e-book to sell for $.99, which comes to about 125 words per penny.

The cover above is in its current incarnation.  I took the original photo and used a section to save as background color with texture--just plain color wasn't dynamic enough. Then I added that twice as a background layer, top and bottom of the image. I added the eye section of the original photo to the middle. Then I used the feather gradient to blend everything. I added the text, originally a red, but I felt the white showed up more and also provided more unity because of the white of the eye. Finally, I rotated the eye to give more dynamism to the image. With the text, I played around with bevel/emboss, stroke, and character height to add more presence to the text. Then I removed the bevel/emboss because the letters didn't stand out so much in a small thumbnail size image (what most online cover images will be). There are probably more things I could do, but I had a lot of fun. I'm really getting the hang of layers in PhotoShop. It allows for a lot of experimentation without messing up what works.

The one below was my first try. I just didn't feel good about it. Not as much dynamism--in my opinion, anyway.

• "Who Listened to Dragons," 9,500 words.
• "River's Daughter," 2,500 words
• "T 'Uk's Dilemma," 1,200 words

The other two cover's aren't really necessary, but I added them inside the book to front the stories. I can also add them for "extra images" to go on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

All three short stories are set in the Dragons of Blood and Stone series reality, the setting of The Stone Dragon.  I also found an image that I think will be great for the SD sequel, Dragons of Blood and Stone. I hope to start working on that by spring at the latest.

Right now I have the e-book uploaded to my Kindle, and I'm going through it for a last time, looking for little errors and formatting issues. I wrote about this process in my blog post "Kindle as a Writing Tool."

Adding photos makes the process a little more tricky, especially when uploading to different sites (Kindle and Smashwords). Sometimes you just have to say, "This is as good as it's going to get with the current technology."

I plan to publish the books on my birthday, this Thursday, February 2. If I can feel comfortable with the e-formats, then publishing the stories will be my birthday present to myself. At this point, I think I probably won't make that birthday goal. I don't want to lower the quality of the product for an artificial deadline.

I've also been enjoying making covers for the stories. The three stories will be published under Who Listened to Dragons, but I made covers for each story to front the short story in the e-book.

I like the Dragons of Blood and Stone image. It connects with the cover image on The Stone Dragon. This was a quick version of the cover. I think I can make it better with more time, but having the cover is a real inspiration to start Draft 2 of the novel!

I'm also playing around and making banners for advertising. Here's one I've made for the e-book. It's smaller because of the size required for the half-banner advertisement. I'll change it to use the new "blue" image, but I was practicing using a sideways (horizontal) format.

These will be the first publications that I've used online stock photos for. That is a fun experience, looking through huge catalogs of images to find one to use. The price is really inexpensive, too.

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

A New and Better Review of The Stone Dragon by My Former Student

My former student is grown up now. The last time I saw him was in the 7th grade. Now he's in the 10th grade, has started a blog for the books he's read, and has written an extended review of The Stone Dragon.

Here is the link to his blog--Sebastien Lacasse's Blog--and his review is added below.

Published in August was a book written by my former English teacher, Tom Kepler. Two years ago when I was living in the same town as him, I found out he was writing his own novel. Originally, I thought it was a research-heavy nonfiction book (well, hey, what else does a student think when they hear their teacher is writing a book?). But anyway, it turned out to be one of the best books I've read.

The Stone Dragon is a fantasy book revolving around the protagonist, Glimmer. At first glance, it may seem like the average fantasy novel, solely about dragons: the fire-breathing monsters who live in caves of solitude and horde massive amounts of treasure. The dragons in this book are much more complex. They are more like divine beings than just physical creatures. Like primal forces of the Universe would be the best way for me to describe them. The elements of fantasy that do show up in The Stone Dragon  are refreshingly original in the way they are told and crafted in the story. Gnomes, dragons, and magic would be my prime examples of individuality.

The characters in the story are interesting and each have their unique personality. For funniest character, I have a soft-spot for the character, Cabbage-pants. This little cabbage gnome has some of the best dialogue of the book and is obviously the witty comic-relief. His unique personality constantly kept me on my toes as to what he would do next and his mysterious disappearances and reappearances added to the magic of the story. Perhaps, Cabbage-pants has some magic of his own... ah, ah, ah, you'll have to read the book to figure that out. Cabbage-pants even ends up being a kind of mentor to Glimmer as the story goes on. His wise sayings can be found all throughout the book:

"Glimmer, gleam, glitter-it's not name but person that makes th' worth."

Hmm, it's probably all that cabbage tea...

Another one of my favorite characters is obviously the dragon. I will leave this character a little mysterious for now because I don't feel I could do him justice. The dragon is an amazing source of plot development and you come to like him as an actual person (or dragon) as you get to know him better.

Other than those two, I like Mage DeVasier, Master Alma-Ata, and, of course, Glimmer. Throughout Glimmer's adventures he discovers he is the most dangerous kind of mage: a dream mage. His magic is the most dangerous because it is unpredictable and cannot be controlled. Glimmer copes with his magic until he learns a technique from Mage DeVasier known as the Silence of the Saints. I will leave this a secret as well because it's a very interesting part of the story and I would hate to spoil it.

This book, however, also has an underlying theme of consciousness. As you read, it is easy to see how consciousness effects Glimmer through his dream magic and how all things are connected through it. Whether human, gnome, dragon, fox, or some other bizarre creature, they are all connected through consciousness and the true power of magic lies in delving deep within one's self to that state of inner being.

Overall, The Stone Dragon was a great and interesting read. It was cool to see how the author had a different take on the genre of fantasy and how he incorporated his one style into it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy. Actually, I recommend it to anyone!

Book Review: Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

On a Goodreads online discussion, author Michael J. Sullivan said about his books: "They are designed to be just enjoyable romps with a couple of likable main characters." 

Either Sullivan is too self-effacing, or he underestimates the power of well-written books that are enjoyable romps with a couple of likable main characters.

Theft of Swords is the first of the fantasy Riyria trilogy, Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, and Heir of Novron, published by Orbit Books. Sullivan originally published the trilogy as six books; in fact, the last of the six has just been released, although the others were taken off the market with the Orbit publishing deal.

For me, the core of Theft of Swords was the relationship between the two main characters, Royce, master thief, and Hadrian Blackwater, swordsman. Their bantering and bickering lightens the plot yet never overshadows the reality of the friendship between the two. For a free introduction to these characters, read the e-formatted short story "The Viscount and the Witch." Formats other than Kindle are available at the author's website.

The pitch:

They killed the king. They pinned it on two men. They chose poorly.

There's no ancient evil to defeat, no orphan destined for greatness, just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time...Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in a plot to murder the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out...and so begins this epic tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

 The interaction between the two characters forms the basic power of the fantasy, just as the Holmes/Watson relationship was so powerful in the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sullivan: "I noticed that most fantasy (at least the ones I've read) are always very serious and dire. I think that humor comes out almost all the time especially when stressed or scared - it's a release mechanism. I have very 'clear' ideas of both Royce and Hadrian and how they talk - editors hate me because I rarely let them touch their dialog...some things I'm protective over."

We should be glad that Sullivan is protective about maintaining the relationship between the two characters. Their unexpected cleverness and humor is one of the key pleasures of the book.

Sullivan also planned out the entire series before publishing the books. Knowing this helped me as a reader to realize that Theft of Swords, although containing plenty of action and character development, is just one third of the story.

"As the series advances it gets more complex and there are a lot of twists that come along the way. I know it's unconventional but I actually wrote the whole series before releasing the first one and by doing so my focus was always on making the last book the most powerful."

Using a writing style that is unpretentious rather than "heroic," Sullivan has created a highly readable tale that manages to endear us to a couple of rascals--and also create a background where magic, dwarves, and dragon-like monsters are so believable that they just form part of the background tapestry.

I've just ordered the second book of the trilogy, Rise of Empire. The only arm-twisting involved with that was me moving my arm to click the "buy" button with my computer's mouse.

And while you're clicking that mouse, go to Sullivan's website. He's got some nice extras there to enjoy.

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Dragon Map Published for Dragons of Blood and Stone Fantasy Series

Here is the map that I began to draw as I was revising my fantasy novel The Stone Dragon.

I then added to the map as I was rewriting the sequel, Dragons of Blood and Stone. At some point, I said to myself, "I don't like all those blank places," and added in interesting names and possibilities, knowing that I could go back and tap the map as a resource at a later point. 

A lot of intuition and deep behind-the-eyeballs faint trains of logic were involved. I could feel the story in the names and geographic locations but didn't pull that information out to inspect it.

At least, not until now. 

I've written four short stories over the winter holiday and am now in the process of revising them. They are all set in the Dragons of Blood and Stone series fantasy reality, and they are all "filling in" the history of that reality.

• "Who Listened to Dragons": a story of the desert, the wyrm, and a six-year-old autistic child who is the magician. Told from the first person point of view (of the twelve-year-old brother), something I haven't done much and really enjoyed, a sort of Holmes/Watson approach to increase the drama.
• "River's Daughter" is a story that reads like a legend. After writing it, I thought of Washington Irving and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." I stepped out of my role of school teacher for this one and wrote the story as it demanded to be told. An interesting experience. Two sisters: one a river nymph--or are both? There is magic in the forces of nature--and we see the embodiment of magic on the Easypeace River in this story. In The Stone Dragon, there is an ice naiad. I wanted to write about a naiad in another season--and chose spring for this story.
• "Cobb's Dragon" introduces a character I've been thinking about for a long time: a teenager dissatisfied with his life, unhappy with his parents, and about to find out a consciousness-changing truth involving a teenage dragon. Literary foils, dragon and boy. On the map, the action takes place in the Eagle Cap mountains west of Outland. I enjoyed getting about the timberline.
•  "T 'Uk's Dilemma": a mercenary must make a choice between two possibilities, and each possibility, if chosen, will rip him apart. This story explores the ancient duties and responsibilities of hospitality: guest and host and gods that walk among us. The 1,500-word story begins in Knight's Landing and moves north and east to Madrone, where T 'Uk's fate awaits him. I like the names of the villages: Harbinger, Richland, Meadow, Spur, and Ruddy. The castle at Madrone is also in The Stone Dragon.

These stories began with characters that I wanted to write about, but the setting provided specifics for conflict and helped me to increase the realism or "world-building" necessary for fantasy to to hook the reader. As I continue to write the stories, they will eventually become a collection: Tales of the Stone Dragon Inn.

I'm glad I've got a map because now I can go exploring--and so can anyone else who chooses to read my stories! 

Copyright 2012 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Three Short Stories in Two Weeks: a wonderful way to end the year

The Dragons of Blood and Stone fantasy universe began with the novel The Stone Dragon, which was published this year, 2011. 

The sequel to The Stone Dragon is Dragons of Blood and Stone, awaiting the revising process. It was a great gift and surprise to me, though, that in the last two weeks I have finished the rough drafts of three short stories and have also had a chance to engage in multiple revisions of two of the stories. These three stories are set in the DBS universe.

What a wonderful way to end the year!

• The first short story, set in il-Barat and the desert north of that village, is 8,500 words. (This is literally off the map of the DSB universe--to the southeast of the Sand Barrens.) Entitled "Who Listened to Dragons," I started with the idea of listening as a magical talent, to listen or attend so well that possibilities emerged from a situation that were so striking and extraordinary that they seemed . . . well, magical. I added to the drama of the story by making one of the two main characters a six-year-old autistic child--the "listener."

• The second short story, 2,500 words long, is entitled "River's Daughter." It takes place on the Makepeace River and involves a water elemental. The challenge I set for myself was to create a dramatic story about a water elemental (or naiad), and how this embodiment of the laws of nature interacts with humanity yet is totally unattached to humanity--totally inhuman, one might say. I wanted the spirit to be totally good and giving, as nature can be, and equally totally deadly and dangerous, as nature can be. Two sisters who live by the river are the main characters. The forces of nature can be scary, and I tried to include that in this story.

• I wrote the third story, "Cobb's Dragon," with a kinder, gentler ending. At 2,500 words, it is the story of--you guessed it--Cobb, a cobbler's son. The story takes place past Outland in the passes of the Eagle Cap mountains, above the timberline, between two lands--the Empire and the Freelands. The main conflict is that Cobb doesn't want to be a cobbler. His discovery is that one can be many things--some prosaic and some fantastic. I've been thinking about Cobb for several years, really. He will have a place when the Dragons of Blood and Stone series moves east from the Freelands to the Empire.

Who knows? Maybe on January 1, 2012, I'll zip off another short story draft. I'd like to write the story of Tucker and Tucker, two identical twins who are introduced in The Stone Dragon. I'd like to explain how it came to be that they are so strange--identical twins who have established two inns, each on the opposite sides of a small river out in the wilderness. Why is it there is so much competition between the two? There is a magical tale regarding Tucker and Tucker, more than just a comic situation.

I've had a wonderful end to 2011 and will let you know when the short stories are available. I will make them available as e-stories--and at least two of them will be for free. The best of all success and happiness to all in 2012! It looks like I'll be busy, and that makes me happy.

Copyright 2011 by Thomas L. Kepler, all rights reserved

Image copyright 2006 by Holly Smith, Flicker