Ask the Author: Adrian G. Hilder
Answered Questions (9)
Adrian G. Hilder
Hi Karen,
Thanks for asking. The following is based on an interview answer I once gave for this very question:
I loved reading the works of David Gemmell, Raymond E Fiest, David Eddings and of course Tolkien. It generated a desire in me to tell a fantasy story with magic and drama in a way I've not found before. It is a bit - if you can't find the story you want to read, write it yourself.
In 2009 I had just finished reading Robin Hobbs’ Farseer Trilogy. It was brilliant, but slow-paced and exhausting for me to read because I wanted to extract the story faster than the dense narrative would allow. I yearned for something faster paced – so hard to find in the fantasy genre and the desire to write my own came back. The following day, scrap printer paper and pen in hand, I began writing about Prince Cory while on the train to work. Cory had a famous grandfather – a general – who was also his mentor and the war he could not end was the challenge never resolved. I wrote about Cory at his grandfather’s funeral but soon gave up because I didn’t feel the quality of the writing measured up to published works. Sadly, I didn’t understand at the time that first drafts are always bad, and you need to take a leap of faith spending time (months or more) writing to develop your “author’s voice”.
Fast forward to October 2013 when the movie Enders Game was released. It caught my attention because Harrison Ford was in it. I decided to read the book first and then see the movie. I loved the story and the ending I didn’t see coming. Orson Scott Card tells us in the forward that he had the idea for the story concept when he was eighteen but did not write it until his mid-thirties. I was forty-three when I read this, and it struck me that the time for writing Cory’s story was long overdue. I started to write again and didn’t stop for the two years it took me to finish a first draft of The General’s Legacy.
Thanks for asking. The following is based on an interview answer I once gave for this very question:
I loved reading the works of David Gemmell, Raymond E Fiest, David Eddings and of course Tolkien. It generated a desire in me to tell a fantasy story with magic and drama in a way I've not found before. It is a bit - if you can't find the story you want to read, write it yourself.
In 2009 I had just finished reading Robin Hobbs’ Farseer Trilogy. It was brilliant, but slow-paced and exhausting for me to read because I wanted to extract the story faster than the dense narrative would allow. I yearned for something faster paced – so hard to find in the fantasy genre and the desire to write my own came back. The following day, scrap printer paper and pen in hand, I began writing about Prince Cory while on the train to work. Cory had a famous grandfather – a general – who was also his mentor and the war he could not end was the challenge never resolved. I wrote about Cory at his grandfather’s funeral but soon gave up because I didn’t feel the quality of the writing measured up to published works. Sadly, I didn’t understand at the time that first drafts are always bad, and you need to take a leap of faith spending time (months or more) writing to develop your “author’s voice”.
Fast forward to October 2013 when the movie Enders Game was released. It caught my attention because Harrison Ford was in it. I decided to read the book first and then see the movie. I loved the story and the ending I didn’t see coming. Orson Scott Card tells us in the forward that he had the idea for the story concept when he was eighteen but did not write it until his mid-thirties. I was forty-three when I read this, and it struck me that the time for writing Cory’s story was long overdue. I started to write again and didn’t stop for the two years it took me to finish a first draft of The General’s Legacy.
Adrian G. Hilder
I'll send you a private message.
Adrian G. Hilder
Hi Matthew,
I am currently working on a short story title "The Silver Warrior" to go into an anthology of fantasy and sci-fi short stories. The anthology will be sold to raise money for Cancer UK and a charity for homeless children.
I am also working on the sequel to The General's Legacy books - a much longer project of course!
I am currently working on a short story title "The Silver Warrior" to go into an anthology of fantasy and sci-fi short stories. The anthology will be sold to raise money for Cancer UK and a charity for homeless children.
I am also working on the sequel to The General's Legacy books - a much longer project of course!
Adrian G. Hilder
I listen to music. Quite a lot of classical music, such as the theme tunes to the Star Wars movies and Pirates of the Carribean. I listen to a lot of Vangelis, especially the theme to 1492 A Conquest of paradise.
Anything by Bon Jovi, some U2 and Magnum.
Anything by Bon Jovi, some U2 and Magnum.
Adrian G. Hilder
Give up - get a different hobby where the people you meet are not just figments of your imagination that take on a life of their own.
Seriously, just give up. It's a much lonelier harder pursuit than you can imagine until you've been doing it a while. When you've spent a ridiculous amount of time alone producing your masterpiece of a story you'll discover almost no one cares about reading it because it can't possibly be good enough to be worth their time... can it?
So, my advice is - give up.
..
..
Still here and not accepting the above advice?
I guess you're serious about writing then, so here's my real answer to this question:
I believe there is a lot of truth in "just be writing" as I think that is needed to discover character and plot, and develop your author's voice. But all this writing needs a target to hit in the end. You need to know who your protagonist is, what their goals, motivations, and barriers to achieving their goals are. What is the antagonistic force in your story that the protagonist must overcome?
This certainly applies to "genre" fiction.
If you only read one book on writing craft, make sure you read Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. The General's Legacy would not be a quarter of the story it is, and may not have been finished at all if it was not for what I learned in this book.
Seriously, just give up. It's a much lonelier harder pursuit than you can imagine until you've been doing it a while. When you've spent a ridiculous amount of time alone producing your masterpiece of a story you'll discover almost no one cares about reading it because it can't possibly be good enough to be worth their time... can it?
So, my advice is - give up.
..
..
Still here and not accepting the above advice?
I guess you're serious about writing then, so here's my real answer to this question:
I believe there is a lot of truth in "just be writing" as I think that is needed to discover character and plot, and develop your author's voice. But all this writing needs a target to hit in the end. You need to know who your protagonist is, what their goals, motivations, and barriers to achieving their goals are. What is the antagonistic force in your story that the protagonist must overcome?
This certainly applies to "genre" fiction.
If you only read one book on writing craft, make sure you read Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. The General's Legacy would not be a quarter of the story it is, and may not have been finished at all if it was not for what I learned in this book.
Adrian G. Hilder
Writer's Block is a rarely encountered monster, but one especially difficult to slay when it lands on the road to storytelling heaven.
It's deaf, so there is no point in asking it politely to move. I once tried hacking one to bits with Snaga, a particularly mean axe wielded by David Gemmell's legendary Druss. There were bloody lumps of flesh scattered everywhere after that encounter, but the loathsome beast just blinked at me and refuse to move.
I tried asking J R R Tolkien's Gandalf for help, but he just yelled: "None shall pass!" which makes him as bad as the monster I'm trying to shift. Well, should I have expected more from a wizard that needed a halfling to help him work out that he just needed to speak "friend" in elvish to pass the doors into Moria?
Believing that magic is the key to slaying this beast, I then go in search of Pug (or Milamber as he is also known). This guy had a book named Magician named after him written by Raymond E Fiest, so he must be REALLY good. I cannot fail... except that I always encounter Pug at the beginning of his life when he can't even collect shellfish without messing it up. I wish I could find Pug later in his life as a fully capable wizard because he would kick Writers Block's ass (if it has an ass) for sure.
Ultimately, the only way to kill the Writers Block monster is to procrastinate by writing something else - like an imaginative description of how you deal with Writers Block for Goodreads questions. This has a million to one chance of working... but In the fragile reality of Terry Pratchett's Discworld where the gods like to play games, a million-to-one chance succeeds nine times out of ten.
It's deaf, so there is no point in asking it politely to move. I once tried hacking one to bits with Snaga, a particularly mean axe wielded by David Gemmell's legendary Druss. There were bloody lumps of flesh scattered everywhere after that encounter, but the loathsome beast just blinked at me and refuse to move.
I tried asking J R R Tolkien's Gandalf for help, but he just yelled: "None shall pass!" which makes him as bad as the monster I'm trying to shift. Well, should I have expected more from a wizard that needed a halfling to help him work out that he just needed to speak "friend" in elvish to pass the doors into Moria?
Believing that magic is the key to slaying this beast, I then go in search of Pug (or Milamber as he is also known). This guy had a book named Magician named after him written by Raymond E Fiest, so he must be REALLY good. I cannot fail... except that I always encounter Pug at the beginning of his life when he can't even collect shellfish without messing it up. I wish I could find Pug later in his life as a fully capable wizard because he would kick Writers Block's ass (if it has an ass) for sure.
Ultimately, the only way to kill the Writers Block monster is to procrastinate by writing something else - like an imaginative description of how you deal with Writers Block for Goodreads questions. This has a million to one chance of working... but In the fragile reality of Terry Pratchett's Discworld where the gods like to play games, a million-to-one chance succeeds nine times out of ten.
Adrian G. Hilder
You know that feeling when you make a real emotional connection with a movie or a book - be it excitement or whatever?
Imagine that feeling multiplied by a factor of twenty and being present everytime you think about your own story. That's the best thing.
I also get to play god - create my own fantasy world and control what happens in it... except some of my characters develop a mind of their own and began to decide how they will act to drive the storyline.
Imagine that feeling multiplied by a factor of twenty and being present everytime you think about your own story. That's the best thing.
I also get to play god - create my own fantasy world and control what happens in it... except some of my characters develop a mind of their own and began to decide how they will act to drive the storyline.
Adrian G. Hilder
The final stages of publishing The General's Legacy and promotional work.
I am deep in planning and doing some writing for a series of 4 new stories following on from The General's Legacy.
I am deep in planning and doing some writing for a series of 4 new stories following on from The General's Legacy.
Adrian G. Hilder
I got my ideas mostly from what’s going on in the world around us right now and in recent history. I’ve avoided creating a fantasy story that draws too heavily on medieval history for storylines and setting. The General’s Legacy is set in a fictional world partly inspired by 18th and 19th century Europe—there is even orchestral music. I’ve used differing fictional religious beliefs, divisions within religions and characters with no religious beliefs for inspiration—without preaching or disrespecting any particular point of view. This also applies to future stories in the planning process.
For some elements of the story, I’ve used my own experiences. Every so often, life can throw many of us a curve ball that we’re not equipped to catch. These can be stressful times—sometimes too stressful for us to cope. I wanted to make something positive out of such hard times. Anxiety and stress come into play in The General’s Legacy, mainly in connection with the use of magic in the story and one character in particular. All great heroes need an inner weakness to triumph over as they try to overcome the antagonists in a story.
For some elements of the story, I’ve used my own experiences. Every so often, life can throw many of us a curve ball that we’re not equipped to catch. These can be stressful times—sometimes too stressful for us to cope. I wanted to make something positive out of such hard times. Anxiety and stress come into play in The General’s Legacy, mainly in connection with the use of magic in the story and one character in particular. All great heroes need an inner weakness to triumph over as they try to overcome the antagonists in a story.
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