A.J. Cunder's Blog

Hello readers and fans of The Silver Talon! I did promise to keep everyone up to date as Book II develops, and so I write this post with some exciting news: I have finished writing the rough draft of Volume I of Book II. I have some working titles in mind, so I don't want to give anything away just yet. I will say, though, that this volume tells Orthel's tale as he attempts to cross Farahdin to get to the sea where he hopes to find a way to reach Alderdor, the ancestral home of the elves. There is a specific purpose to his mission, a task in which he must not fail if Arius and the elves are to defeat the new evil stirring in the realm. His odyssey is not easy: he gains some new friends along the way as well as some new beliefs that promise to lift his spirit but may strip him of his magic and leave him vulnerable. Treachery abounds at every turn, and Orthel must be wary lest he fall into a trap from which there can be no escape...

Now I just have a few more volumes to go, and Book II will be complete!

Stay tuned...

AJ 

Hello to my friends, fans, and readers! This post is to give everyone an update on where I stand as I continue to write the sequel for The Silver Talon. The layout of the second book will be slightly different than the first. Rather than focus solely on a single character/group of characters and have his/their story move the plot forward, there will be several different characters who each have their own story line. Whereas in the first book, the story was primarily centered around Arius and Guardus. In the sequel, Arius and Guardus will have their own story line, separate from Orthel's, Savatay's, Tialdo's, and several other characters. They will each have their own mission--and those missions will certainly be interconnected as they fight the evil that has arisen in Farahdin since the close of the first book, yet the characters' journeys will seldom overlap. 

This, of course, adds much more to the plot than if it were only one or two main characters. Thus, it will take me longer to write. Though rest assured that I have outlined the book from start to finish, and am hard at work typing and fleshing out the details. I currently have over two hundred pages written (yet, that is about one-fifth of what I plan to write). At this moment, Orthel is approximately halfway through his journey, Arius and Guardus have left for theirs, Savatay and Lord Tahylor prepare to embark on a rescue mission, and Tialdo has discovered a disconcerting fact about the Scepter and its Keeper. 

As the stories continue to unfold and coalesce, I will post ongoing updates both here and on Facebook. In the meantime, I will also post a summary of what can be expected from Book II (look for it on the main page of the website or on The Silver Talon Facebook page [www.Facebook.com/TheSilverTalon]). 

I look forward to the post when I announce the second book's completion, but in the meantime, please be patient and I promise to work hard and write a book that you will all enjoy! Arius, Guardus, and the rest of the characters are pushing themselves to their limits, throwing themselves into danger, not only for Farahdin and their countrymen, but also to give me an exciting, intriguing, and engaging book for you all to read!

Now, to get back to Microsoft Word and type out a few more pages!

Happy reading!

A.J. Cunder 

Every author out there will understand when I say that there is no such thing as a "Final Draft" of a book. I mean this in the sense that no matter how many times we go back to the manuscript, re-read, edit, or revise it, there will always be some small change that we decide needs to be made to make the story even better. This could range from changing around the order of sentences in a paragraph, adjusting punctuation, or adding a word here or there to enhance a description.

However, this could also include adding several pages of new material to the ending of the previous "final draft." This was the situation in which I found myself after several readers came back to me with a desire for a more complex ending that was proportionate to the build-up that preceded it. I decided to oblige, and, taking the perspectives of several different characters, crafted an additional ending for "The Silver Talon" that hopefully provides a more substantial conclusion to the book. 

The point remains that no matter how finished a manuscript may seem, there will always be changes that can be made, ranging from minor revisions in word choice and sentence structure to significant changes that add substantially to the novel. For prospective authors, the revision process can seem like a daunting task, especially in light of this "perpetual editing", however, even major authors admit that their first drafts are never perfect. Holly Lisle, an 18-year novelist with 32 books claims that her first drafts are as mangled as everyone else's. I'd have to agree with her! When I look back at the first draft of "The Silver Talon", I find myself cringing when I come across certain passages. After several rounds of editing, I even wound up adding a completely new character to the story (I'll let you guess which character that might be). 

There is no doubt that effective editing is essential to making a good manuscript into a great manuscript. And the fact is that no first draft is perfect--indeed, even the tenth draft will in all likelihood have a few more rounds of revision left in it, if not more. I can't even count how many "rounds" of edits "The Silver Talon" went through, as I edited it sometimes in pieces before I had even finished the whole manuscript. Even with the published book in hand, I continue to make changes that will appear in any subsequent publication runs; from gently re-crafting a sentence to extending the ending by twenty pages, I have no doubt that even when I think I have created my final "Final Draft", there will be something else that I find could be changed. Therefore, I make my affirmation that there is no such thing as a "Final Draft", and potential authors should not obsess with making their manuscripts perfect. Revisions are no doubt a necessary element to writing a good story, but the fear of not achieving the "perfect" revision should never inhibit writers from submitting and publishing their work. 

The other day, I was looking around the internet about different ways to advertise a novel. I came across a forum that suggested different avenues an author might take to be proactive in marketing a book, and found an interesting suggestion: making biographies for characters in a story. 

Thinking about this, I realized that as a reader myself, I would greatly enjoy being able to "research" a bio of some of my favorite characters. In my opinion, this gives a character a little more spice, either for fans who have already read a book and have a particular character as their favorite or for those who have yet to read the story and aren't sure what to expect from a character. 

As such, I have undertaken the task of composing short biographies for some of the main characters of "The Silver Talon". They can be found on the "Character Biographies" page of the website. I hope you'll stop by and read up on some of the personages that make "The Silver Talon" the story that it is! 

As an author, I find that my primary goal is to give back. In writing a story, the end result will hopefully be an exciting, inspiring, or otherwise enjoyable and entertaining piece for whoever reads it. The greatest feeling for me as an author is knowing that someone has read my book and truly enjoyed it. This means that I've done my job! As an avid fantasy reader myself, I know how great a feeling it is to be so completely absorbed by a book that your surroundings become the characters, the lands, and the magic of the world you are reading about. When I was a kid, I loved nothing greater in the literary realm than a book that had the power to do just that. And as a writer, it is my hope and aspiration that my work can provide such an escape to fantasy lovers of all ages. 

But not only in providing an entertaining story can I give back. As a diabetic from the age of 18 months, I know how difficult it is to live with a lifelong disability. So, I made the decision to use "The Silver Talon" as a way to raise funds for organizations that help to make life easier for those who suffer from diseases such as diabetes. The American Diabetes Association is one such organization: they recently published an article about "The Silver Talon" in their national magazine, Diabetes Forecast. I have agreed to give the profits from all sales of "The Silver Talon" generated by the article to the ADA. With a circulation of 500,000 and an estimated readership of 5,000,000, I hope to make a substantial donation to an organization that works tirelessly to improve the lives of those who suffer from diabetes while simultaneously searching for a cure that will end the disease for good.   
If you haven't already, please consider purchasing "The Silver Talon" and visiting the Make Your Purchase Count section of the website so that you too can be a part of finding the cure for diabetes!

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As I continue writing the second book for the Chronicles of the Renasu Guild series, I came across something interesting: as I create random names for new characters in the story, I decided to Google the names to see if they showed up anywhere else on the web. Sure enough, almost every name I created for the characters in my story already exists somewhere in the world! These names, keep in mind, were often the creations of random letter groupings that were spawned from my pressing the keyboard with my eyes closed. Savatay is one example: I thought of the name as I was staring out my window, wondering what might sound appropriate for the name of an elf. Sure enough, when I searched "Savatay" on Google, it is not only a name that already exists, but it is also the name of a place in Afghanistan! This was just an interesting tidbit of information that I thought might intrigue one who has read "The Silver Talon," or perhaps a fellow author who understands the difficulty that sometimes arises when we must conjure names for characters out of thin air.  

For every diabetic out there, whether you suffer from Type I, II, Adult Onset, or are in danger of becoming a diabetic, know that you CAN live your life to its fullest, without letting diabetes hold you back.

When I was 18 months old, I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, also known as Juvenile Diabetes. Growing up, I'd have to endure finger pricks, insulin shots, self-control during birthday parties when the sweets were tantalizingly displayed for every kid to grab, and all the other limitations that diabetes entails. But despite all of that, I never stopped telling myself that I could enjoy my life as much as anyone without diabetes. I never stopped dreaming.

As a kid, I always wanted to be a firefighter. Since I was little, I'd wear my kid's turnout gear around the house pretending I was answering a fire call. But sometimes people told me that since I had diabetes, I couldn't be a firefighter. "How could you fight fires and save lives when you have to constantly worry about your own?" they'd ask. I would just look at them and shake my head, knowing that diabetes wouldn't--couldn't--stop me from achieving my dream. Now, at age 18, I've been with the Whippany Fire Department for over two years, I've battled a house fire, and I've responded to hundreds--yes, hundreds--of emergency calls, serving my community as a fully trained Whippany Fire Fighter. I did not let diabetes overcome my desire to be a firefighter. Of course, there are certain precautions I must take, such as keeping a bottle or two of Gatorade in my bunker pants in case I feel my blood sugar starting to drop on a fire call, but with those precautions taken care of, any diabetic can and should serve his or her community as a firefighter, EMT, police officer, or in whatever capacity he or she wishes. 

And not only am I a firefighter, but I am an author as well. As a kid, I loved reading fantasy, but I never imagined that one day I'd be writing one of my own. Well, as a junior in high school, I put pen to paper and started writing out what would become a 500 page fantasy novel entitled "The Silver Talon." In an effort to give back to the organizations that have helped make life with diabetes easier, I have committed to donating a part of the proceeds to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), along with other fundraisers for the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the Goryeb Children's Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital, in the hopes that one day a cure might be found and all of us who have to live with this disease can one day say good-bye to blood sugar tests and insulin injections. Until that day comes, though, we endure, never letting it stop us from reaching our goals, fulfilling our potential, and living our dreams.