J.M. Robison's Blog

Always the question: where did you get the idea to write The Last Wizard?Always the answer: Like a Facebook relationship...it's complicated.I had just finished writing The War Queen (now published by Tirgearr Publishing)and I was chomping at the bit to write another story. Any story. Living in Elko, NV at the time, me and my husband spent an evening in Salt Lake City, UT. 11 p.m. came around and we needed to get home. The problem: we faced a 3 1/2 hour drive. I was so tired I needed to sleep, husband was feeling so ill he couldn't drive, and with no money to pay for a hotel room for the night, I bit the bullet and drove us home. To keep me awake (since caffeine has ZERO affect on me), I slammed my brain with story idea after story idea. So long as I kept my brain working, I stayed awake. By the time I pulled into our driveway at 3 a.m., I had a rough idea about a wizard locked away in his castle for a couple hundred years where some person releases him. Now here's the twist...it wasn't based on Victorian England.THE MAKINGS OF THE LAST WIZARD PART TWOThe Last Wizard series is now published in three books under these names: The Foes Between Us, Between Magic and Mayhem, The Illusions In between. However, The Foes Between Us and Between Magic and Mayhem used to be one book lumped under the book name of The Last Wizard and the Illusions In Between used to be called The First Sorceress. After working with my publisher, the first book was broken into two and names were changed.So I wrote the first draft to The Last Wizard (keep in mind, I'm speaking of The Foes Between Us and Between Magic and Mayhem because they used to be one book together). This might surprise you: I wrote it in 3rd person, past tense (he walked down the street. He kicked a rock) and it was based on my own made up world and my own government. Women were tied into their dresses, locked in their rooms at night, and used perfume to display their status: single, married, looking for husband. My made-up society closely mirrored that of Victorian England, though I didn't pay attention to that at the time.I'm in the military, and I deployed to Romania for 9 months. While there, two things happened side-by-side that impacted The Last Wizard in a tremendous way. The first: I read a book called "These Broken Stars" by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. This sci-fi romance was written in a beautiful 1st person present tense (I walk down the street. I kick a rock) where the male and female characters alternated chapters in their point of view. I had always wanted to write a book in 1st person present tense but didn't know how with two characters both having their own point of view, but seeing how well that very thing was done in "These Broken Stars," I now knew how to do it with both Brynn and Zadicayn and set down immediately to make it happen (MASSIVE OVERHAUL #1)The second remarkable thing that happened which changed the very fabric of The Last Wizard came at 2 a.m. while I drove on a lonely, extremely pitted dirt road. While bumping along on my military patrol, thinking about what delicious sandwich I was going to make when I made it back to the chow hall, I looked up at the single lamp post on the side of the road, the only lamp post along that mile and a half stretch where beneath it sat a Romanian soldier on duty in his tiny little shack. For some odd reason, even though I had seen this lamp post twenty times already, tonight a word popped in my head: gaslamp. I don't know why. The lamp was clearly electricity, but my bored mind started analyzing what a gaslamp was, and as soon as I got back to my duty station, I sat at the computer and googled for the next several hours all about Victorian England (where gaslamps came from) and slowly, ever so slowly, realized that my society in The Last Wizard mirrored nearly identical to Victorian England.....(cue MASSIVE OVERHAUL #2)I'd shot myself in the foot before I'd even started overhauling The Last Wizard into a historical fantasy, because I had a debut and a funeral in The Last Wizard...two things Victorian England was EXTREMELY formal about with very specific superstitions and procedures about how those things are conducted (bringing flowers to the debut, carrying a dead body feet first out of the house.)I spent 3 days researching toilets so I could make a brief mention of them. I learned how to flirt with a fan, that my English ancestors somehow lived even though they put arsenic in face cream. And because I'm a glutton for punishment, I transferred the tied dresses and room locking into my new Victorian society even though it made the logistics of Brynn moving around so, so, so, so much harder in an already corset-tight era (NOTE: tied dresses, macramists, and young girls being locked in their rooms is NOT Victorian. I made all of those up.) Every day I'd start writing and ask myself, "why am I doing this? This is so hard." And then I'd wake up and do it again.And then I had to study the Middle Ages because I decided Zadicayn needed to come from there, so I had to study their speech and their customs. And then I wrote The Illusions In Between which is based in 1848 Rome, Italy and had to learn some Italian and study Google Maps so I could get an accurate layout of Rome so Darik could navigate it, and I had to check out a book from the library and study the history of Rome so I could understand it's foreign culture better.......And to think it all started because I saw a lonely lamp post along a pitted dirt road illuminating a poor Romanian soldier just trying to stay warm at 2 a.m. in February.

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A seed fell between the cracksof a rock beside the stream,robbed of earth and water both,both robbed of life and dream.A great tree it could be,if the seed but made the choice,to still grow inside the rock,despite the silence of its voice."It's not ideal, but I'll grow,"The tree seed decided that day."Though ruined at birth and cheated by fate,I can still decide to be okay."For the rest of its lifethe seed adapted to the boulderand pushing back against the stone,pushed up and out and over.Without sky or sun or earth,all things needed to thrive,The seed flourished and grew,nourished by grit and will and drive

WRITER: Any way you can go a little faster or read more than one chapter at a time? So little at once so far apart can lead to the tendency to forget what happened.BETA READER: It is true I do not remember some details. You can look at that in 2 ways: 1) I suck as a beta reader and someone else might be a better beta reader for you. Or...Maybe the thing I don't remember wasn't emphasized enough to stick in my brain so I could remember.I am a writer, but also a reader. I started reading a book, put it down for 3 months, and picked it up again, and I still remembered what I needed to remember because the author made sure to emphasize the important things.I like analogies, so here's one: reading is like driving a car. Some people drive faster than others. While they drive, they see the cool buildings and trees, mountains, aliens, whatever. The bigger the building, the better the driver can see it and it will leave a longer lasting impression on their mind after ward. But if the building was right up against a tiny dog house, the driver isn't going to see the dog house. They're going to see the big building. So if an important plot point is in the dog house, switch it to the big building.So I'm mostly a dork, but there you have it. I am only one reader and you should get opinions from others because they may feel differently. If I don't remember something, at least go back and see why maybe I don't remember. Was the mention of the thing only a single sentence, or an entire paragraph? I usually remember entire paragraphs of info, but single sentences measure up to the size of a dog house, and I just don't see or remember dog houses.

“Your people don’t want a princess. They want a war queen.”From the line in my novel that prompted its title came a revelation that it is so much more than a line or a title. It’s a way of conducting yourself, your life, your job, and your future.“Your people don’t want a princess…”The instant we think of princesses, we see Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, etc. We see them as pretty, dreamy-eyed girls with bright hopes of a feature. This is pretty fantastic…if you live in the 1700’s. You might be happily married or happily single. That doesn’t change the fact that life is getting more and more expensive and women – with or without children – are forced to work out of the home. Your dreams of being a comfortable princess where you sleep on silk pillows and lounge around all day eating chocolates have been shattered.Shattered. But you have actually not lost control of that princess inside you. Instead, it has morphed.“…They want a war queen.”You don’t sleep on silk pillows because you are smart with your money and bought something more practical and cheaper. You don’t lounge around all day because nobody has ever changed the world by staring at the ceiling, and you don’t gorge on chocolate because you can’t win a war if you’re gasping for air after walking up a flight of stairs.You’re an amazing mother. You’re a killer CEO. You’re a damn good soldier, shelf stocker, cashier, whatever it is you do that gets you up every day empowered to do a job and do it well.Your people are tired of useless princesses. They want a war queen to lead them to victory. You are that war queen. Now get out there and change the world and win the war.

Everyone has their love advice. Many novels have been written on the subject, hundreds more people have offered their opinions on social media, trying to find the one magic way to love someone unconditionally despite life's challenges.I am one of those who think I have advice, and I'd like to share it with you. I'll make it short. If you want longer advice, browse Barns and Noble for a book about it.One thing being married for 9 years has shown me, is that everyone has their own pet peeves, likes, and dislikes, and, despite loving your spouse to death, sometimes they do or say things that: upset you, make you sad, irritate you.But then, you probably do those same things to your spouse, too. So, really, the battlefield odds are evenly matched.But I realized I have a choice about my love: I can love my husband more than I love the problem I feel he has caused by what he did (or hasn't done) or said.Of course you're thinking: that's stupid. No one loves problems!Oh, but humans DO love problems.When you love someone, you show them you do by telling them so, you pay special attention to them, and you take time out of your day to be with them.When you love the PROBLEM you think they are causing, you tell them about the problem, you give special attention to the problem, and you take time out of your day to complain and nag about the problem.Both are the definition of love. What you decide is if you are going to give that love to your spouse, or the problem.There is a battle of two wolves inside us all.One is evil. It is anger, jealous, greed, resentment, lies, inferiority, and ego.The other is good. It is joy, peace, hope, love, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.The wolf that wins? The wolf you feed.-Cherokee Proverb.The above quote relates directly to either feeding your love to the problem, or feeding that love to your spouse.So, when your spouse does/doesn't do or says something you don't like and your first instinct is to complain, get even, or get angry, choose to love your spouse more than the problem.

HOW TO:Take all your characters and force them into a theoretical dance club. Make them stand so they form a circle in the middle of them. Now play this song:As the author, stand back and watch. Who among your characters seizes this opportunity and busts out a few moves? Why do they do that? Who among your characters doesn’t decide to dance? What’s holding them back?As you analyze this, remember that some characters might have 2 reasons for dancing or not dancing: 1) the real reason they keep to themselves, and 2) the reason they tell other people.EXAMPLE(characters come from my Last Wizard series and The War Queen)JAICOM: doesn’t dance because he has a proper 1848 Englishman reputation he needs to uphold. And it’s daft.ZADICAYN: is going through a terrible emotional time but would certainly try to dance anyway if he were in better moods, because he likes to have a good time, even if it’s silly.DARIK: is the first to jump in the circle with all energy and hype. He’s used to being shunned from society and making a fool of himself, so he’s not worried about the opinions of others. Plus he thinks it’s fun.BRYNN: is too shy to make the attempt to dance in front of everyone else, torn between doing what’s proper and following her heart. As usual, doing what’s proper wins this time.JOSEARA: doesn’t dance because she has zero desire to do anything fun and is irritated by the joy of others since she has very little joy in her own life.KAELIN: isn’t going to dance to this song, but maybe another one. And when he DOES decide to dance, he will do so with calculated purpose, making sure he’s the only one in the circle and all eyes are on him.ALTARN: wants to dance because she’s tired of always being guarded around those who are scrutinizing her every move. But she doesn’t dance. For that reason.RATAVIA: fights to get into the dance circle and dances mostly like a fool but with enough zeal no one notices she’s only doing it as a distraction so they’ll stop scrutinizing what Altarn is or is not doing.Take those reasons you gave each of your characters and expound on them in the story, making their entire personality revolve around them. Doing that will help you govern their actions and reactions to every moment in the story.

ELKO, NV, May 16, 2018 Wanting to track down her friend's murderers, corset-hating Brynn of 1842 England follows a map her dead friend left her, but she finds instead a wizard imprisoned during the Middle Ages. Because the wizard is the last one, upon his death a creature from the Fae Realm will infiltrate Earth and consume everyone. Finding more men to become wizards to prevent this is easy. Avoiding the church who wants the wizard dead isn't. Advanced reader fans have this to say about The Foes Between Us: "EVERYTHING about this book was simply magnificent!" "This book is addicting!" "The prose is good, the characters are excellent, and the story is compelling." Order The Foes Between Us now, available as an ebook on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, andApple. Discover more about the book and the author at www.jmrobison.com J.M. Robison is a fantasy author who writes books about heroes who are forced to reveal their mistakes, the weak who lead rebellions to dethrone tyranny, and courageous common folk unearthing ancient secrets to free the oppressed. She was made a debut author in 2016 with her first novel, The War Queen.

There are only 2 forces in this world: what we make happen by our own two hands (we drive the car) and the random acts we react to (we get hit by a car).REACTIVE PLOT LINE:Bob must walk one block to Grandma’s house. Two steps out his front door, a dog bites his leg. He’s rushed to the hospital and tagged with a huge bill. He comes home the next day. Still needing to walk to Grandma’s house, he sets off on his journey again. Halfway there, Miley Cyrus' wrecking ball swings across the road and tags his head. Knocked out for 20 minutes, he continues down the road and narrowly misses getting hit by a car. Finally, he reaches Grandma’s house and sits down with a hot plate of cookies. THE END.A reactive plot line is that which the character spends the entire time reacting to random situations which are thrown at them the entire book. To where there would be no story if these circumstances didn’t interrupt their forward progress. They could sit in their room and stare at the wall the entire book, yet there would still be a story there because the house could burn down, aliens could abduct them, Miley Cyruses wrecking ball could throw them into space. Yet, all they had to do for any of that to happen, was sit in their room and stare at the wall.This is not a bad plot line, because many popular books follow this format. To name a few:Deep BlueWizards First RuleThe Eye of The WorldIron KingTHE PROBLEMS WITH HAVING A REACTIVE PLOT LINE:I’ve read all four of the above books and hated them all with the exception of Deep Blue because I was in love with the under-the-ocean setting. And why didn’t I like them? Because they were predictable. These random events would happen to the character where death appeared eminent. But because there are still 300 pages left in the book, I know the character will live, so I’m not at all concerned for their welfare and I even feel a little detached. I start to know SOMETHING is going to happen to the character, and every situation the character goes through I know they will come out alive and well. A reactive plot line leaves little room for the reader to be surprised with unexpected twists.AN ACTIVE PLOT LINE: Bob must walk one block to grandma’s house, because Grandma has been kidnapped and he has to gather clues. He reaches her house and finds a note with three names on them. Believing these names to be the kidnappers Grandma identified, Bob does a google search and pulls up one of the names. He goes to the address listed. By process of elimination, he finds one of the kidnappers. Bob ties the kidnapper to a chair and beats him for information, and discovers Grandma has been forced into cookie-making slavery. Bob rescues Grandma, and eats a plate of cookies with her for his reward. THE END.An active plot line is that which nothing happens in the story except the character makes it happen. To where there would be no story if all Bob did was stay home and stare at the wall. There would be no fire, no aliens, and no wrecking ball. He might get up to use the toilet and make food once in a while.This is a better plot line to have. Books who used this format are as follows:Red QueenLifebloodMap of BonesThe Maze Runner*Some of the above books DO have reactive elements in them, but I will discuss why further down. The above books are massively active plot lines.*I do not see any problems with this plot line. It’s not predictable, because we never know what the character is going to do from moment to moment. When Bob captured one of the kidnappers to beat him for information, we don’t know if Bob is going to put the man’s head in a microwave and turn it on, or bust in his knee caps, or drop him in a pit of snakes. Further, we don’t know if him performing those measures will be enough for the kidnapper to talk. The active plot line leaves a lot of room for twists, because now Bob discovers Grandma faked her own kidnapping so she could become a cookie-baking world tyrant.HAVING BOTH AN ACTIVE AND REACTIVE PLOT LINE: Let’s admit it; most of the time our characters would be really content just to bumble along in life, and so we impose a random act to happen to them to kick them into gear. Bob was watching TV and Grandma calls, threatening to stop paying his rent if he doesn’t go to her house right now and eat cookies, or Bob was sleeping when he receives a phone call saying Grandma had been kidnapped. That is a reactive moment, where some unforeseen event kicks our characters in the butt and forces them to react in some way which starts the story.I RECOMMEND: For what my recommendation is worth, I enjoy active plot lines FAR more than I do reactive ones, for all the reasons I’ve listed above. But neither are wrong.Which plot line do you like to write/read? Explain in the comments.

There are only 2 forces in this world: what we make happen by our own two hands (we drive the car) and the random acts we react to (we get hit by a car).REACTIVE PLOT LINE:Bob must walk one block to Grandma’s house. Two steps out his front door, a dog bites his leg. He’s rushed to the hospital and tagged with a huge bill. He comes home the next day. Still needing to walk to Grandma’s house, he sets off on his journey again. Halfway there, Miley Cyrus' wrecking ball swings across the road and tags his head. Knocked out for 20 minutes, he continues down the road and narrowly misses getting hit by a car. Finally, he reaches Grandma’s house and sits down with a hot plate of cookies. THE END.A reactive plot line is that which the character spends the entire time reacting to random situations which are thrown at them the entire book. To where there would be no story if these circumstances didn’t interrupt their forward progress. They could sit in their room and stare at the wall the entire book, yet there would still be a story there because the house could burn down, aliens could abduct them, Miley Cyruses wrecking ball could throw them into space. Yet, all they had to do for any of that to happen, was sit in their room and stare at the wall.This is not a bad plot line, because many popular books follow this format. To name a few:Deep BlueWizards First RuleThe Eye of The WorldIron KingTHE PROBLEMS WITH HAVING A REACTIVE PLOT LINE:I’ve read all four of the above books and hated them all with the exception of Deep Blue because I was in love with the under-the-ocean setting. And why didn’t I like them? Because they were predictable. These random events would happen to the character where death appeared eminent. But because there are still 300 pages left in the book, I know the character will live, so I’m not at all concerned for their welfare and I even feel a little detached. I start to know SOMETHING is going to happen to the character, and every situation the character goes through I know they will come out alive and well. A reactive plot line leaves little room for the reader to be surprised with unexpected twists.AN ACTIVE PLOT LINE: Bob must walk one block to grandma’s house, because Grandma has been kidnapped and he has to gather clues. He reaches her house and finds a note with three names on them. Believing these names to be the kidnappers Grandma identified, Bob does a google search and pulls up one of the names. He goes to the address listed. By process of elimination, he finds one of the kidnappers. Bob ties the kidnapper to a chair and beats him for information, and discovers Grandma has been forced into cookie-making slavery. Bob rescues Grandma, and eats a plate of cookies with her for his reward. THE END.An active plot line is that which nothing happens in the story except the character makes it happen. To where there would be no story if all Bob did was stay home and stare at the wall. There would be no fire, no aliens, and no wrecking ball. He might get up to use the toilet and make food once in a while.This is a better plot line to have. Books who used this format are as follows:Red QueenLifebloodMap of BonesThe Maze Runner*Some of the above books DO have reactive elements in them, but I will discuss why further down. The above books are massively active plot lines.*I do not see any problems with this plot line. It’s not predictable, because we never know what the character is going to do from moment to moment. When Bob captured one of the kidnappers to beat him for information, we don’t know if Bob is going to put the man’s head in a microwave and turn it on, or bust in his knee caps, or drop him in a pit of snakes. Further, we don’t know if him performing those measures will be enough for the kidnapper to talk. The active plot line leaves a lot of room for twists, because now Bob discovers Grandma faked her own kidnapping so she could become a cookie-baking world tyrant.HAVING BOTH AN ACTIVE AND REACTIVE PLOT LINE: Let’s admit it; most of the time our characters would be really content just to bumble along in life, and so we impose a random act to happen to them to kick them into gear. Bob was watching TV and Grandma calls, threatening to stop paying his rent if he doesn’t go to her house right now and eat cookies, or Bob was sleeping when he receives a phone call saying Grandma had been kidnapped. That is a reactive moment, where some unforeseen event kicks our characters in the butt and forces them to react in some way which starts the story.I RECOMMEND: For what my recommendation is worth, I enjoy active plot lines FAR more than I do reactive ones, for all the reasons I’ve listed above. But neither are wrong.Which plot line do you like to write/read? Explain in the comments.