I’ve been a very long hiatus from both blogging and writing, well fiction writing that is. I thought I’d return with a few of my favorite moments. My favorite comedic one has to be my very short spoof, A Modern Medieval (Picture Perfect). I laugh every time I read that over, even though I know what’s coming. As for The Age of Merrik: The Anointing, which I know some of you are familiar with, here’s a list warning: spoilers.
SPOILERS:
Continue reading
I just looked at my The Age of Merrik: The Anointing page on Amazon and saw I got a review, 4/5 stars. I am very happy that someone not only read my book, but reviewed it.
It was done back on April 16, 2012, but I had not noticed it before. I have no idea why it did not appear sooner, but I am still happy to see it.
Now that the bar is over, it’s been an uphill battle to get back to the books – my books – but a lot of feedback from readers and friends lately have been really encouraging.
I know, I published the book back in 2007, and it has been 5 years, but if you’ve never been to law school, I don’t think you can understand how much it consumes your life. But in the end, it’s worth it. Especially if you can get a job. Hard to do in this economy, but working on it. In the meantime, back to books!
And for those of you who would like to support my book by buying it (thank you!), please do so if possible via the direct link as I believe I get more royalties with this link.
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Help Promote The Age of Merrik. Put this code on your webpage, blog, livejournal, or myspace:
<a href="http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000043292/The-Age-of-Merrik.aspx" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/bH5w2Rq.png" title="source: imgur.com" / border="0" alt="Buy The Age of Merrik"></a>Thanks again everyone for your support!
A WordPress Prompt Post — Audience, what do you think?
No. Nothing is ever always better than something else. Usually for those of you who read a book and enjoy it then it is a disappointment to see the movie or television adaptation. It will never be similar enough (some exceptions).
As a writer, technically, I could write anything any way I want. Novels are generally written as they come to me and I edit them. Structure per se is not a necessity.
Movies, however, are an entirely different story. The majority of American scripts are written in a particular formula or structure. There are certain variations and sometimes trend changes. To a certain degree, I have started planning my novels in the same structure as a screenplay, at least for its backbone.
An example in action: Number of Characters
The Age of Merrik: The Anointing has a very large cast. I will be cutting down on that cast in Rise of the New Masters but will probably be expanding it in Dark Desires since it focuses on the sword masters. When I wrote the screenplay adaptation of The Age of Merrik: The Anointing, however, I reduced the number of characters and turned The Four and Miriam into two characters.
Movies and novels are generally different. They usually can be both appreciated. Fans may not like a book’s adaptation. I think the Stardust movie is much more enjoyable than the book.
SPOILERS BELOW
I’M OKAY WITH SPOILERSI’m beginning to think I should start writing the ending first always. Well, it was easier to do since this was a sequel. Sequels are really HARD to write in my opinion. But at last, I have written (detailed outline) the ending of this book (Rise of the New Masters), now to write my way there from the beginning. Another great adventure in writing continues.
As a side note, I am considering not including Jonas in this one as he was greatly in love with Brianna who does not appear in this novel. Although he gets somewhat close to Eleya and decides what Brianna has done to her is wrong in the screenplay adaption, this does not show in the first novel. Although, I could just write in a few references or flashback scenes.
Contains spoilers for the prequel Dark Desires and the sequel Rise of the New Masters:
I’m Okay With SpoilersFan Question – SPOILER regarding the Sword Masters
ALRIGHT, READY FOR THIS SPOILERExcerpt from The Age of Merrik’s Official Website:
A series of novels in the Sword Master Universe, The Age of Merrik tells the story of Merrik, the young ruler of Tyera destined for greatness. Along his journey, he meets many of the sword masters, including the Sword Master Regina.
With the help of his allies, he may be able to defeat Malik’s forces from controlling the world.
The Age of Merrik: The Anointing contains a special preview of The Age of Merrik: Rise of the New Masters.
An old blog post from 2007. Reposted.
For those of you who have read previous versions of The Age of Merrik–which officially reached back as far as 2000–you will be pleased to know that Cle’an plays a more important part. The sword masters (mildly referred to in the 2000 version) have a much fleshed out history and are truly legendary.
Zaedrif’s role has changed throughout the versions. Beginning in the 2005 version, Zaedrif is hailed as the great Prince and Sword Master of Nemea–a land further explained in this final version.
Working on the screenplay adaptation helped me to develop Zibiah, Zaedrif’s sister, and Cle’an’s admiration of Eleya.
The most recent change to the series is the place and function of “The Journey”. It is a place between the mind of the present and the mind of the future where only sword masters may go. Eleya’s position as the Sword Master Regina has become more important and will be more so in Rise of the New Masters.
from a recovered portion of a 2007 blog post
Ok, getting to another question.
What is the big deal with the vow? Why not break it?
What is with the “I think I might kiss her” obsession from John? What’s the big deal about kissing? Does it mean something else?
(Yeah, put the something else in “”)
To answer them all at once, the big deal with the vow is very cultural. To break it is to lose honor. And, consider the explanation of the vow. Merrik risks losing power by simply breaking it.
Kissing. That relates back to the vow. In real life, kiss all you want. Just be careful of mono. In the AOM world, if you are a sword master or wizard or other magic user, be careful not to lose your life. You are transferring your power to another, whether or not you want to.
The cautions of the vow become part of the culture, and even non-magic users (who may not know the origin) are cautious of it. As for “something else” it does not refer to that. Think of how much more power a character would lose that way. To answer an unspoken question, there was none of that between Merrik and Brianna. Good thing, Brianna did not need to absorb any magic power, and Merrik did not need to lose any.