Ask the Author: Michael E. Dellert
Answered Questions (12)
Michael E. Dellert
The milieu of my Manred tales, of course. I'd become a sage, helping the benighted people of the hedge-kingdom of Droma make a better life for themselves.
Michael E. Dellert
I have a few. A gracious friend sent me a copy of Diana Wynne-Jones "The Dalemark Quartet" as a gift, and I've already been working through it in my spare time. And I picked up a four-book volume of the collected works of Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea Chronicles. I haven't yet read "The Farthest Shore" or "Tehanu," so both of those are on my summer reading list. I've also set myself a goal to read all (or most) of the "Heroes in Hell" shared-universe fantasy anthology series, which features some of my favorite authors of all time. And I also have Tom Fallwell's "Rangers of Laerean" series, Joshua Robertson's new title, "Anaerfell," and CL Schneider's "Flash Point" on my TBR. So it promises to be a very bookish summer! Thanks for the question!
Michael E. Dellert
I will be offering writing workshops this summer, if all goes to plan. To be kept informed when the course becomes available, you can join the newsletter here: http://www.mdellert.com/blog/mailing-...
Thanks for the question!
Thanks for the question!
Michael E. Dellert
Good question. Aside from my own fictional couple of Eowain and Eithne in The Romance of Eowain and the forthcoming Wedding of Eithne, I'd have to say: Morgaine Angharad and Nhi Vanye i Chya, from CJ Cherryh's Morgaine Saga. Vanye is an outcast warrior, who gets caught up in the impossible, world-spanning quest that drives Morgaine. Morgaine initially involves him in her quest because his outcast status allows her to take advantage of his honor-bound nature to air her in her mission. She has no intention of befriending him, or even liking him, considering him at first to be nothing but a tool to serve her purposes. But the subplot throughout the saga's four books follows the tension between his fear of her versus his sense of duty to her, and the growing respect they have for each other. It's an incredibly intimate relationship that grows believably and deeply throughout the series. Thanks very much for the question!!
Michael E. Dellert
Getting the creative juices flowing? I write. As easy and as hard as that. I write a minimum of 1000 words every day. I don't care if it's good, bad, or ugly (that's what editing is for), I just write. Some days it's nothing more than a non-fiction blog post, but most days I get at least 1000 words toward my fiction. Sometimes that's "non-fiction" world-building, but it all goes into the well of ideas to draw from. But yeah, every day, 1000 words a day. Like Woody Allen says, "80% of success is just showing up." So I show up. Hopefully, I'll find that other 20% sometime soon and start making that mad Rowling money, but until then, I show up.
And I've worked out a method for myself when it comes to working on a novel project. I'm in the middle of one now, book #4 in my series. If it helps at all, you can check it out on my blog, I wrote out an overview in a weekly series earlier this year. http://www.mdellert.com/blog/13weekno...
But the real secret is to just sit down and do it, no matter what else comes up. You can't edit what ain't writ, so get writing. ;)
And I've worked out a method for myself when it comes to working on a novel project. I'm in the middle of one now, book #4 in my series. If it helps at all, you can check it out on my blog, I wrote out an overview in a weekly series earlier this year. http://www.mdellert.com/blog/13weekno...
But the real secret is to just sit down and do it, no matter what else comes up. You can't edit what ain't writ, so get writing. ;)
Michael E. Dellert
Wow, great question. There's a long version answer, but the short answer is: I wanted to write a story set in a very "used universe" kind of a setting, and I wanted that setting to be very Irish-Celtic in flavor. So I read as many primary sources (or translations of them) as I could lay hands on, and I did a lot of comparative linguistic research, and I studied the Dindsenchas ("the lore of places") of Ireland to learn the history of toponyms (place-names), and the ancient law-codes to understand how the culture was structured and what they considered important. All of this gave me a good long list of names for people, places, and things that have an authentically historical basis, even if I've fantasized them a bit in the translation. Thanks for the question!
Michael E. Dellert
As a whole, my writing is inspired by my studies of Irish myth, history, language, and culture, and by magnificent writers like Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Evangeline Walton, CJ Cherryh, Chris Bunch, and Glen Cook. Hedge King in Winter was specifically inspired by my interrogation of its main character, Lord Eowain, and the setting in which he lives. As I learned more about him, his family, and his homeland, the idea of exploring the consequences of a royal accident and a disputed succession emerged out of those circumstances.
Michael E. Dellert
I get inspired to write by sitting down to write. A professional writer can't afford to wait around for inspiration. It's a fickle thing, and life is all-too-ready to provide distractions. So I hunt inspiration down like a dog, beat it with a club, drag it home with me by the hair, and chain it to the leg of my desk.
Michael E. Dellert
I have a second novella, A Merchant's Tale: Second Tale in the Matter of Manred, that is currently in production (just received first page proofs from my typesetter tonight, in fact) and will launch in early April. I'm also rewriting a full-length novel, Romance of Eowain, which is tentatively scheduled to publish in July, and writing another full-length novel, Wedding of Eithne, which is scheduled to publish sometime in Autumn 2016.
Michael E. Dellert
If you're really serious about it, and I mean *really* serious, can't-sleep-at-night serious, find-myself-daydreaming-elaborate-conversations-with-fictitious-people-in-my-mind serious, read as much as you can, and write every day. The rest of it (marketing, publishing, publicity, getting paid) will all come if you commit yourself to the craft. And if you're not really serious about it, learn a trade; there are easier ways to earn a living.
Michael E. Dellert
When it's going well--and it doesn't always--but when it does, there's a sort of feverish excitement to find out what happens next, and after that, and after that again. No matter how much pre-planning, plotting, outlining and other exercises I do, it never fails to amaze me how the picture in my mind, the sound of the dialogue, the nuance of movement and expression, resolves itself into words.
Michael E. Dellert
By writing. I think 90% of the time, writer's block is a product of anxiety about producing the best possible work each time one sits down at the keyboard. No one is perfect every day and all the time. Give yourself room to make mistakes, and write down anything that comes to mind, even if it's just a rant about the lack of angled parking spaces at the supermarket. My cardinal rule is that anything can be fixed with editing except a blank page. You can't edit what ain't writ.
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