Ask the Author: Nicholas McIntire
Answered Questions (11)
Nicholas McIntire
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)
Nicholas McIntire
I have a katana blade that my grandfather brought back from Japan after WW2. He was an incredibly discerning man, so he wouldn't have brought back just anything. In fact, he only brought back 3 things from Japan: a robe, a vase, and a sword blade. (Note that I said "blade" because it was kept in a shirasaya, a bamboo storage element for a blade.) Multiple people told me it was probably just a Guntō, which were mass-manufactured during WW2 for Japanese soldiers. However, the blade is marked in kanji along the tang (the bit that gets locked into the handle, which basically means it's likely really old. Blades have been marked in Latin characters for centuries, and it's also been clearly cut down to have a shorter hilt, which would reflect the style changes from the 16th century to the 19th. It also has a hamon (that wavy line you see in katanas today, though most of them look like a sine wave with acid. This looks more like mist above mountains. I have no idea where this blade came from. Mr grandfather was an OB-GYN and I have records of where he went and what he did to a degree. But if I could, I'd love to go back in time and find out where this blade came from, how old it is, and what, if anything, it meant to my grandfather. He passed away in 1995, so all I have are historical records to go on. But once I learn the true history of this blade (at least as much as is possible) and what, if anything, it meant, I'd love to construct the narrative backward and tell the story of the blade. It'll still 100% make an appearance in The Archanium Codex, but it's a much more personal story that I'd like to investigate :)
Nicholas McIntire
New formats will be rolled out in the near future, and I will absolutely update this response when I have a clear timetable and locations. None of my books are exclusive to Amazon or anything like that, and I have provided all file formats to my publisher, so I expect to see other versions roll out within the next week. Thank you for asking! Sorry it took me so long to respond, this is literally the first question anyone has asked me on here, lol. Also, while you're waiting, you can currently get The Gilded Prince (a stand-alone novella taking place 23 years before the events of the main story) in epub format from www.nicholasmcintire.com for free!
Nicholas McIntire
I'm going to do my best to answer this one, because it's been a while since I got "the idea" to write this series. I grew up reading a lot of pretty diverse fantasy, playing a lot of JRPGs on SNES and Playstation (yes, I know that dates me, and I'm comfortable with that). There are character names that were originally inspired by things like an episode of the revamped Johnny Quest series in the late 90s, an Indigo Girls song I loved in the early 2000s, a Russian Olympic gymnast, and the incredible education I received getting my first Bachelor's degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies at UT Austin. It's less one idea and more an amalgamation of bits and pieces that all came together in my head and took on a life of their own. I've had entire scenes show up in dreams, or in that moment right before I fall asleep. Music inspires me a lot, and I've always written to music. The title and core concept for the second book in the series, A Wicked Wind, came from a Decemberists song. I was listening to it while walking along a beach, at night, by myself. And then that entire plot point just showed up in my head. The idea that flowed from those words couldn't be more different from what the song was actually about, but I can honestly find inspiration just about anywhere, and usually when I'm least expecting it. The harder I try to force creativity, the more it slips away, so I've learned to just relax and let it show up when it feels like it. And in the 28 years I've been writing, that has worked out pretty well. Hopefully, this answered the question.
Nicholas McIntire
This is a really tricky one to answer, because for me there are a lot of facets that make up "being a writer", and ranking them can be difficult. It changes with my mood and what's going on around me. Right now, I'd say creating characters and stories that resonate with people, taking them to a different world where they can be invested in someone else's triumphs and tribulations. My favorite novels growing up, and to this day, are the ones where I feel a real emotional connection to the characters, where I feel personally invested in their success. Or watching the fictitious people living in my head deal with the obstacles that are thrown at them, and potentially having a reader learn something about themselves in the process.
A close second, for me personally, would be possessing the ability to take all (or at least most) of the negativity, anger, aggression, frustration, and pain that life can throw at you and having a place to transform that darkness into something positive, something that hopefully feels real and important to the readers engaging with the characters and the story. It can almost be like therapy for me, because it gives me a place to put the things I do or do not enjoy about real life and hopefully craft something positive from all that lovely chaos.
A close second, for me personally, would be possessing the ability to take all (or at least most) of the negativity, anger, aggression, frustration, and pain that life can throw at you and having a place to transform that darkness into something positive, something that hopefully feels real and important to the readers engaging with the characters and the story. It can almost be like therapy for me, because it gives me a place to put the things I do or do not enjoy about real life and hopefully craft something positive from all that lovely chaos.
Nicholas McIntire
This summer I read Brandon Sanderson's first Mistborn trilogy, and Brandon Mull's Fablehaven quintet. I enjoyed both enormously.
Nicholas McIntire
His Birkenstocks slid underneath his feet as he walked. He was frustrated that he couldn’t feel the wind between his toes, because of the socks.
Nicholas McIntire
I've been doing this for a long time, and when I start to feel like the well is running dry, that's my cue to take a step back from what I'm doing, and seek out ways to recharge my creativity. Sometimes I hit a wall, and it's because there's a question hanging over a character or a scene that I haven't answered for myself yet. So I'll take a walk, let the question or idea loose in my head, and pay attention to something else for a bit. Usually within an hour, sometimes two or three, I find my answer and I'm ready to get back to work. In my experience the absolute worst thing you can do is to try and force creativity. And for me there's no faster way to find myself blocked.
Nicholas McIntire
This isn't meant to sound flip or obvious, but the best advice I could give is to write. And here's what I mean. I wrote a series of 11 fifty-page novellas before I wrote my first 500+ page novel, but when I wrote that novel, it happened organically. And it couldn't have happened (at least for me) without the experience I gained from writing those shorter pieces. Just as every visual artist is different, so is just about every writer I've come across. No one's going to have the same path from start to finish, and it's entirely possible that the first couple of things you write are going to be terrible. Mine certainly were. But I didn't set my expectations too high, and I learned what did and didn't work for me.
Nicholas McIntire
I'm halfway through with Book 3 in the Archanium Codex, as well as its companion novella.
Nicholas McIntire
Reading, watching, and listening. For me, creativity is a wheel, and to keep it turning you have to have input and output. So I go through phases where that wheel grinds to a halt, and I have to recharge myself. This can be through travel, reading, TV and movies, music, exercise, or video games. Anything that lets the creative voice in my head take a back seat and rest for a time. It lets me know when I'm recharged and ready to go again, at which point I shut the world out and go back to telling the stories that interest me.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more