Ask Michael E. Dellert, author of The Matter of Manred Saga discussion

Ok, so here it is: your chance to ask me anything you want to know! Post your question in the comments on March 11 between 10am and 10pm EST and I'll be happy to answer!

Hi everyone, and thanks for coming to the Ask Michael E. Dellert Goodreads Author Event today! I'm excited to be here and I look forward to your questions! But first, I want to thank Goodreads for offering features like this for authors! They provide a great forum for indie writers to connect with readers and fans!

So now, without further adieu, Here We Go!

For the next twelve hours, I'll be live posting answers to YOUR questions! So go ahead, ask me anything! :)

So a little about me. I’m a writer, editor, publishing consultant, and writing coach with a publishing career spanning 20 years. My blog, Adventures in Indie Publishing, is a resource for creative writers of all kinds.

I published two novellas, Hedge King in Winter and A Merchant’s Tale, and my first novel, The Romance of Eowain, in 2016, and I’m happy to announce that you can now reserve your copy of my forthcoming book, The Wedding of Eithne, right now!

http://getBook.at/Wedding-of-Eithne :)

Ok, so here it is: your chance to ask me anything you want to know! Post your question in the comments on this thread, and I'll be happy to answer!

And in the meantime, I've been getting questions from my newsletter readers, so I'll be nattering on about that, and talking about my current projects. Feel free to interject! :)

So, here's a writing life-related question, from a member of my mailing list: "Another author wanted feedback for a short story, so I offered to help. ... [The story] is really unfit for adults or children. It is repetitive and boring. How do you kindly tell someone that their work absolutely sucks?"

This comes up a lot when one works with writing groups, or shares one's work publicly, and it's especially common when one appends "publisher" to one's life-work. The thing to remember is that honestly constructive criticism will be met with gratitude by any professionally-minded author. And constructive criticism means finding those places where the author has done a good job, highlighting those areas, and suggesting room for improvement. In cases such as these, kindness goes a long way, but you want to offer constructive value for the author's time as well as your own.

What's the strangest thing that has ever happened while you were writing one of your books?

Another question from my newsletter readers: "I have one illustrator doing the cover characters for my children's books, but a different person designing the cover. Is it appropriate to just recognize the person who is doing the character or both people?"

I do this as well, use a separate book cover artist for the cover art, and a book designer to finish off the cover with the cover text design, and the interior layouts. I recognize both of them for each project.

Hedge King in Winter: Victor Titov of Grafit Studio (http://hamsterfly.deviantart.com/)
A Merchant's Tale: George Vacaru (https://99designs.com/profiles/1146026)
The Romance of Eowain & The Wedding of Eithne: Sasha Ritzovic-Ritza (https://99designs.com/profiles/478542)

And my book designer is Glen Edelstein of Hudson Valley Book Design (http://www.hudsonvalleybookdesign.com/)

All of them have been consummate professionals, and I recommend them to any author, traditional or indie, who is looking for book covers.

So, a little about myself: I was born and raised in Northern New Jersey, Sopranos territory for those who remember that great TV show. Usually, that revelation is followed up with, "No, I don't talk that way. I watched too much TV when I was young."

The northwest of New Jersey is actually very rural and beautiful, tucked away between New York's Adirondacks and the NJ/Pennsylvania Delaware Water Gap region. It's peaceful and picturesque, but I also like to refer to it as "the Land that Time Forgot." As much as it's changed over the years, it's hardly changed at all.

So if you're ever in the neighborhood, let me know, I'll take you on a tour. September is a particularly lovely time to go apple-picking. :)

Erin wrote: "What's the strangest thing that has ever happened while you were writing one of your books?"

Thanks for the question, Erin. And it's a good one (sort of). Depends on how you define strange, I suppose.

In the "strange as in that sucks" department, my faithful cocker spaniel, Coco, passed away while I was writing The Wedding of Eithne last year. It was a really difficult hump to get over, to be professional and keep writing despite the grief I was going through.

On a somewhat brighter note, from the "strange as in weird" sense, I wrote half of the first draft of The Wedding of Eithne in Savannah, Georgia, while spending summer vacation with my kids. So I was writing from poolside while my girls did their swim team and gymnastics practices, and taking breaks to take them out for shakes and burgers. It was a lot of fun, but an odd way to get work done. Hats off to the full-time mother/writers in the world!

Another newsletter question: "I am sharing your name with many of my friends. They all have a different interest in reading, so I am sure they will like your books. I am completely unaware in the way to describe them! Since I do not read that type of book, I just describe it as a giant Nordic Viking-like people who like to drink and kick ass. That may make you laugh, but I really have no idea of the specific genres or an ideal description."

LOL! I certainly don't mind that description! :)

The inspiration for the setting is actually 12th Century Ireland, in the decades leading up to the Anglo-Norman Invasion (though very much fictionalized and fantasized). So the story-world is mostly wild-eyed Irishmen, the women who love them, and foreigners inspired by the Vikings, the French, and the English (among others).

The stories are heroic fantasy adventures featuring reluctant heroes forced by circumstances beyond their control into adventures for the good of their people, often at their own expense (and despite their own worst efforts!).

Hope that helps! :)

By the way, I was just featured today in an interview for folks with the short-attention span of a #SQUIRREL on the "Angel M. Blog." You can check it out here: http://angelm.net/blog/squirrel-7

What made you choose the medieval time period feel? Is that a time period you like or did the story come to you that way?

Angel wrote: "Who does your covers?"

Hi Angel! I was just mentioning you! ;)

I've used three different cover artists for my four different books.

Hedge King in Winter was done by Russian artist Victor Titov of Grafit Studios. His website is here: https://www.grafitart.com/, and I found him through his gallery on DeviantArt: http://hamsterfly.deviantart.com/

A Merchant's Tale was done by George Florin Vacaru. Victor wasn't available, and I discovered George on 99Designs: https://99designs.com/profiles/1146026

The Romance of Eowain and The Wedding of Eithne were both done by a Serbian artist, Sasha Ritzovic-Ritza, whom I also discovered on 99Designs: https://99designs.com/profiles/1146026

The cover text and interior designs of all my books are done by Glen Edelstein of Hudson Valley Book Design: http://www.hudsonvalleybookdesign.com/

Great artists and wonderful people to work with, every one of them! :)

Thanks for the question!

Christie wrote: "What made you choose the medieval time period feel? Is that a time period you like or did the story come to you that way?"

Hi Christie! Thanks for stopping by!

Interesting question... I've always been a fan of fantasy, but not necessarily of medieval fantasy. My interests have run from Tarzan movies to mythology. But most of the fantasy I was reading when I became interested in being a writer was of this medieval western European variety. So it has a soft-spot in my heart for that reason.

I've also always been interested in ancient and medieval history. As a professor of mine once told me, "You don't need to read science fiction to explore strange alien cultures. All you have to read is history that's old enough."

And when I started the world-building that led to this particular world of the Matter of Manred Saga, I was exploring my Irish heritage and discovered that my grandmother's maiden name, Donnelly, is related back to a line of Ulster tribal kings that stretches back to the 6th Century AD. I have no idea exactly how closely I might be related to that royal line, but that's what inspired the characters and the interest in medieval Irish history.

And the Anglo-Norman Invasion period is such a pivotal moment in Irish history, inspiring the next 800 years of Anglo-Irish conflicts, that it seemed like an opportune moment to drop my characters into, with lots of opportunity for conflict at every level.

So it sort of came to me that way, out of a period that I had an interest in, and as a consequence of my earliest readings in the genre. :)

Thanks for the question!

Next question from the mailing list - "is gat-toothed an Irish term?"

This was in reference to a recent excerpt from The Wedding of Eithne that I shared in my newsletter, which you can find here: http://eepurl.com/cCsTBT

The answer is that I saw the term "gat-toothed" in a translation related to the character of the Wife of Bath in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Because the Canterbury Tales features a pilgrimage as a frame-story through which the individual characters can tell their individual stories (like, "The Merchant's Tale," which served as inspiration for my own "A Merchant's Tale"), I decided to pay a little tribute to my sources by featuring characters from Chaucer's Tales as characters in the pilgrimage of the sinister minister, the drymyn-priest known as Inloth.

So in researching those characters, I picked up "gat-toothed," which seemed similar enough to "gap-toothed" while yet sounding a bit archaic, and used it to describe the character inspired by the Wife of Bath.

Also "Gap-toothedness" (if that's a word) is an attribute commonly associated with sexual licentiousness in medieval literature, and is still commonly used as such today in many parts of the world (potential modern Nigerian brides can boost their "bride price" if they are gap-toothed), and that sexual licentiousness was something I wanted to suggest among the pilgrims in ironic counterpoint to the sinister minister's "holier-than-thou" self-righteousness.

Good questions today!! :)

Do you have any distant future plans for the characters from your Matter of Manred series? :)

Hi Michael - Hope you're having a good day. I was wondering, do you have hankering after writing in a different time and place? Or is it Medieval Ireland for now?

Thanks!

Anji

Tom wrote: "Do you have any distant future plans for the characters from your Matter of Manred series? :)"

Hi Tom, thanks for the question, and all the work you're doing toward next week's The Ides of March - Essentia facebook event. I'm really looking forward to all the character take-overs! (https://www.facebook.com/events/18428..., for those who want to check it out this coming Wednesday!)

The Wedding of Eithne closes out what I've been calling behind closed doors, "The Eowain Cycle" of the Matter of Manred. I have a fifth book already written that then bridges the gap into the next major sequence in the series, "The Adarc Cycle."

On the longest timeline, the idea is to have a series of some 9-12 books and associated stories, spanning 25 years and three generations in story-time.

So I've got enough to keep me busy for the next few years. ;)

Thanks for asking! See you on Wednesday!

Anji wrote: "Hi Michael - Hope you're having a good day. I was wondering, do you have hankering after writing in a different time and place? Or is it Medieval Ireland for now?

Thanks!

Anji"

Hi Anji! I've having a grand day, thanks. I hope all is well at the Lamb!

I do actually have a hankering to write in different times and places. I have notes and a handful of draft stories set in a science fiction universe that I'd love the opportunity to explore in more detail with readers. I also have a contemporary fiction piece tentatively called, "Last New Jersey Exit," a pun on the joke that everyone in my home state lives on an exit from the Garden State Parkway.

And in the immediate future, I'll be writing a contemporary fantasy based on historical characters from 12th Century France, set in a very unique setting.

Give Abe my regards, and lift a pint at the Lamb for me! :)

Thanks Michael. Oh twelfth century France! Intriguing! I guess that would be a very different world. But I guess from a position of relative ignorance...

Another question from my newsletter: "I do have a wierd question- is there anywhere in your books or website that has a type of glossary for words and phrases that you use, that are not English? ... I would like to know how to pronounce them. They sound odd in my head, when I read, but I imagine with the proper lilt, it would be quite wonderful."

I do use a lot of unusual words in my work. Very few of them are made up out of whole cloth (I'm not the linguist that Tolkien was), and I use a number of different resources.

I rather enjoy leaving some things untranslated where the perspective characters don’t know the language spoken by another character, like the “Old Tongues” with which spells are woven (Anglo-Saxon English and ancient Sumerian, depending on the spell-caster), because I like to think it gives them a mysterious, “secrets Humanity was never meant to know” vibe. But I do intend to put together a glossary of made-up words that recur commonly in the primary language of the culture in the stories. Someday. When the time allows.

* Place-names and character names for natives of the setting are derived from historical sources such as the Metrical Dinnsenchas, as well as Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, and Roman Gaulish, so an Irish-like lilt is usually what I imagine. I try to stay away from very common names from those cultures, but that makes pronunciation difficult sometimes. Depending on who you ask, I’m not always good at “Anglicizing” names for US English-readers.

* Corentin is Norman-French. He speaks my own bastardized form of real-world Ancient Gothic, and his accent is Franco-German. Wright’s Glossary of the Gothic Language is my primary resource for his vocabulary.

* Corentin’s mercenary, Jôkull, speaks a version of real-world Old Norse, with a Norwegian sort of accent. Not too many people so far “in-country” in my milieu speak Jokull’s tongue, so his master Corentin (who’s not a POV character in Wedding, but is in Merchant’s Tale) often translates Jokull’s dialogue or references the actual meaning in his replies. E.g., when Corentin says, “What you think is wise, no one asked,” he implies that Jôkull said, “Well, that seems wise” or something to that effect, in his own tongue. Every so often, I also like to throw in untranslated bits just as an Easter Egg. E.g., Jôkull’s response to the blue-robed woman in this week’s excerpt is a translation into Old Norse from a hard-boiled Raymond Chandler detective novel, where Chandler’s Sam Spade is accused of being tall and replies, “I didn’t mean to be.” There’s a website called “Vikings of Bjornstad” that I use as an Old Norse reference.

* The tinkers speak an amalgam of Cornish, Manx, and English, and there are a number of different dictionaries online for each of those. In my own mind, they have a decidedly Cockney sort of accent when they speak English. Brad Pitt’s character from the Guy Ritchie movie “Snatch” is one of the inspirations for these characters. Most of his dialogue is incomprehensible, but the meaning comes from the context of other characters’ replies. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7QBS...)

Mostly, my language experiments are a nod to “my peeps,” the hard-core fantasy nerds who love “lore” in their fantasy, speak Tolkien Elvish around the house for fun, and write up their wedding invitations in Klingon.

But I also think diversity in literature is important. Fantasy literature about white Europeans in medieval times isn’t traditionally very diverse, and doesn’t offer a lot of plausible opportunities for modern forms of racial diversity. For example, the Morgan Freeman character from Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood” felt shoe-horned into the story just for the sake of diversity.

Ethnic and linguistic diversity are easier to come by, however, in a setting where 50 miles from home is another country, with distinct dialect. Ireland was uniquely diverse ethnically, between the Celtic natives, the invading Vikings and Englishmen, the trade contacts with the French, and the influence of the Roman Church, so I try to mimic that diversity as best I can, as a stand-in for more modern problems of diversity.

Thanks for the question!

Anji wrote: "Thanks Michael. Oh twelfth century France! Intriguing! I guess that would be a very different world. But I guess from a position of relative ignorance..."

It promises to be an exciting project. 12th Century France was certainly a very different world from nearby Ireland. Civilized, refined, firmly Christianized, the period from which the characters for this project emerge is widely different from my usual work. And the story is about love, so the courtly love tradition of medieval France and the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine also becomes tied up into the project. It promises to be a lot of fun! :)

Oh that sounds extremely interesting. Has it been challenging to move milieu in that way?

Rumor has it that you are putting together a class for novelists that will be available online. Given your work in the publishing universe I know this is one I won't want to miss. Where do I sign up to get the information? I want to make sure your class isn't sold out!

Anji wrote: "Oh that sounds extremely interesting. Has it been challenging to move milieu in that way?"

It's a challenge to move between sci-fi and fantasy for me, because I rather enjoy the mystical aspects of fantasy. There are ways to evoke this in sci-fi (for example, Star Wars is a fantasy set in a sci-fi universe), but I haven't quite found the voice I want for the milieu. Ultimately, stories are character-driven in my opinion, and so while finding the milieu is fun, it's static until I find a character with a relationship to that milieu.

The contemporary fiction has a different set of challenges again. Much of the world-building exercises that I enjoy so much as a writer are unnecessary in the contemporary urban setting so familiar to us all. I can use a made up word like "Oreo" without having to go into 10 pages of back-story about what that means. ;)

Okay and last question for a while because I've been monopolising conversation. It's a very general and philosophical one.

I've mentioned something similar to you before but when I read your work, thinking about the power struggles, yes it's an alien time, as you allude to above but your work and other historical explorations (including fiction) make me think 'plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose'.

So, do you think current affairs affect what you write? Can they inspire in some ways? Or do you try and keep it 'pure'? I guess we can never know what our creative unconscious is doing under the radar!

Kira wrote: "Rumor has it that you are putting together a class for novelists that will be available online. Given your work in the publishing universe I know this is one I won't want to miss. Where do I sign up..."

Hi Kira! Long time, no see! ;)

Yes, the rumors are true, I've been developing two online courses, each in both a video and a daily email format, that walk through the process that I use for writing and rewriting novels in just 13 weeks each. It's full of lessons I've learned over the years as a developing writer, gleaned from writing classes, workshops, and my own experience over five books!

Join my mailing list for upcoming dates this summer! http://www.mdellert.com/blog/mailing-...

And thanks for stopping by!

Thank you Michael! I'm on the list & I'll keep my eyes open for this. Glad you're offering a course that will keep me on task. Given your prolific history I look forward to hearing the *secrets* behind how you wrote all of your novels in such a short amount of time.

Anji wrote: "Okay and last question for a while because I've been monopolising conversation. It's a very general and philosophical one.

I've mentioned something similar to you before but when I read your work..."

Another great question, thanks, Anji! And I never mind when you monopolise me. :)

I firmly believe in something Albert Camus once said, "A writer's job is to keep civilization from destroying itself," and I take that to mean that modern works of art, no matter what their inspiration or setting, have a responsibility to speak to modern concerns.

And as they say, "Write what you know." So as much as I've researched what a medieval life experience might be, I actually *know* what a modern life experience is. So I try to relate what I understand from our time and symbolize that in the characters and their struggles.

So, as an example, in The Wedding of Eithne, there is a struggle between two factions of the same fictitious religion, but it is based on real-world factional Church disputes from that same period, and the conflict also speaks to modern questions about the interrelationship between religion and politics in our own time.

I don't consider myself an "idea-driven" writer, and I don't preach any particular perspective, but I try to explore such an idea from multiple angles as a way of coming to terms with my own experiences. By "putting myself in the other person's shoes," I come to an understanding and tolerance for ideas I may not agree with, but which influence my life and the world around me in some way.

Kira wrote: "Thank you Michael! I'm on the list & I'll keep my eyes open for this. Glad you're offering a course that will keep me on task. Given your prolific history I look forward to hearing the *secrets* be..."

Secrets is what you'll get, Kira. I'll be sharing my battery of 250 stream-of-consciousness character development writing prompts, as well as structural tips and tricks and daily guidance on the ins-and-outs, with achievable goals to get you from blank page to finished novel in just an hour a day for thirteen weeks.

Looking forward to seeing you in the course! :)

Another question I get a lot is: "How long have you been writing?"

I've always been a story-teller, even as a young kid. I used to play make-believe, when the backyard was as big as the whole universe and stormtroopers needed killing and princesses needed rescuing. I had a friend in 3rd grade with whom I co-authored a comic book, "The Adventures of Michael-Man and Lyssa-Lady!" (Surprisingly, Marvel Studios hasn't called yet about the movie rights!)

When I was about 12 years old, I started taking the idea of being a "real" writer seriously for the first time, and I had a wonderful creative writing teacher in high school who really saved me from myself and introduced me to the art and craft of it for the first time. I quickly got too big for my britches. Somewhere around here, I have a very kind rejection letter from the Pulitzer Prize committee, addressed to my 16-year-old self. I was always a bit of a dreamer, I guess.

So I was writing off and on for my own enjoyment, and flirting with publication, for about 30 years. After 20 years working in traditional publishing, I had all the skills I needed to get the job done without waiting for a traditional publishing firm to take an interest in my work. So when I buckled down to do my own freelance editorial and publishing consultant work a few years ago, I decided it was time to stop "aspiring" to publication and get it done.

Picking another random question from the mailing list.... "Can you share a little of your current work with us?"

I'd be glad to. This is an excerpt from the second scene in The Wedding of Eithne! Enjoy!

*****
Eithne cursed at the door and gave it another futile kick, then went to the earthen decanter on the chest and sniffed at it, poured a dram into the cup and eyed it with suspicion—but no need. It was only cool, clear water.

Gods but a spot of ôl would be welcome, she thought, then filled the cup and drank.

The room around her lacked any personality. The stone walls, floor, and ceiling were dank and everything smelled of mildew. It might have been some time since the room had last been used, and the previous tenants had left little to define them. An hourglass full of sand, a hairbrush, and a small hand-mirror of polished brass stood upon the second chest.

Idly, she overturned the glass to set the sands running and drained her cup. How long do they think they can keep me cooped like a hen?

She moved the candle, flipped open the first chest, and rummaged through its contents. A masher, a small knife, a small can of fuel oil, a tinderbox, and a smoking pipe were among the personal effects.

She pocketed the knife. Just in case.

A cape, linen undergarments, a tunic, a woolen scarf, and a smock. A light blue robe, such as the lesser priestesses wore. A small wreath of mistletoe, holy to the goddess Thaynú, and set of small tin bells.

The second chest was filled with similar personal items, clothing, and religious articles.

Eithne sat on one of the reed mats. The sands of the hourglass ran into the lower bulb. She poured herself a second cup of water.

Gods, this is intolerable. She wondered what had become of the previous tenants. Died of boredom, no doubt. She tapped her fingers on her knee. How did I get here?

She'd heard reports that Eowain was killed fighting bandits, kinsmen, and rival tribesmen. And then she'd been told he lived, but so near to death that he might expire at any moment. Then he was bathed in the spring-waters, and boiled in that terrible cauldron, and— Now by some miracle he's hale and whole again? I mean, Gods be praised, but...

There was a touch on her skin, at the back of her hand. She looked down idly and—

Went rigid.

A spider—! The body was brown and muddy-red, with a lighter middle line on its sternum, and six light spots on each side.

A giant house-spider—! Eithne's throat closed. She knew its kind. They lived mostly in caves, or dry forests under rocks. And a common enough spider in people's homes too.

Which is this, cave or home, here under this hill—? The nape of her neck tingled. It's as big my damn finger—!

The conspicuously hairy legs and palps tested her flesh.

With a little shriek and a shudder, Eithne stood and shook the infernal thing off her. It flew away to a far corner and disappeared.

Oh, I will not remain cooped up with that! She pounded on the door, called out to her jailers. But if any heard, they did not answer.

She kicked at the stone wall, paced three strides to the opposite side and kicked at the opposite one for good measure. Is this any way to treat guests? Locking them up with great, big, hairy—!

The bolt scraped.

Eithne jumped.

The door swung open and the drymyn-priestess Alva Damar stepped through. The same ban-drymyn who'd lived a hermit's life in the forested mountains near Eithne's village. The very one who'd pronounced the geas upon her as a child.

"Are you ready to behave like a woman, or will we have more of these tantrums?" The ban-drymyn's voice was stern and grim.

I see you are, among many things, a publishing consultant. What are the duties of said job and do you provide your services in all genres, or more so specialize the the type of fantasy that you write?

Ursula wrote: "I see you are, among many things, a publishing consultant. What are the duties of said job and do you provide your services in all genres, or more so specialize the the type of fantasy that you write?"

Hi Ursula! Thanks for coming by! How are you doing? Did my answer to your other question help?

To this question, as a publishing consultant, I offer a number of different services to both writers and publishers. My offerings include editing and proofreading of manuscripts, copy-writing for marketing and PR purposes, ghost-writing books and stories for "authors" who don't have as much time as they'd like to write their own stories, as well as technical services like project management, digital and print production design, and platform management.

My services for fiction cut across all genres, and I also offer non-fiction and academic editorial and publishing packages.

You can see more about the services I offer, or ask me any specific questions, by checking out my "Services" page on my website: http://www.mdellert.com/blog/writing-....

You can also find out more about my experience and background in publishing on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-d...

You are always quite informative. I will share this Q&A at a writer's meeting this afternoon and see if they should like to add questions to this event! I am well thank you and it looks like Spring has sprung in NV. Thanks!

Ursula wrote: "You are always quite informative. I will share this Q&A at a writer's meeting this afternoon and see if they should like to add questions to this event! I am well thank you and it looks like Spring..."

Hurray for Spring in Nevada! In New York, we had a tease of spring, and then a day of snow squalls and wind yesterday, and today we're below freezing! But hey, here comes Saving Time tonight, so we (in theory) get an hour of daylight in exchange for our lost hour of sleep! I'm not sure that's a fair trade-off.

By all means, invite your writing group to join us, I'd love to answer any of their questions! :)

Picking randomly from the letter-bag here: "What inspired you to write your latest book?"

A few things (as usual). For one thing, I left the last book on a cliff-hanger, so I wanted to finish the story of Eithne and Eowain's courtship. And I wanted the second half of that story to be a departure from the male-leads in my previous works.

This book explores issues of love, marriage, and free-choice. Ancient Ireland, even after Saint Patrick, had a number of religious differences with the dominant Roman Church of the day, particularly around issues of the "right" (i.e., Roman) way to practice their religion.

Marriage seemed like a particularly important topic for me to tackle. This story asks questions like: What makes a valid marriage? Who can declare a marriage null? At what points do the conflicting interests of religion and politics intersect? How do people deal with the intersection of those conflicts?

And as always, I'm influenced and inspired by what I read: Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin, and Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley had a strong influence on developing this story.

And another from the grab-bag. You folks on the newsletter, keep them coming, these are great! "Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?"

The primary message of The Wedding of Eithne is that ultimately, no matter what other factors of religion or politics or anything else may be involved, marriage should first and foremost be about love and free choice. No one should ever feel like they "must" marry anyone else, and once the choice to marry someone is made, it's really nobody else's business (unless you need wedding gifts to furnish your new home).

A lot of the ideas that went into this novel formed up around the reports of the Chibua schoolgirls in Nigeria some years ago now, and how many of them were being "married off" (enslaved) to other war-lords. It was (and continues to be) a terrible tragedy, and I wanted to explore this as a counter-point to the ability to actually make a free choice.

Thanks to Nick from the newsletter! "Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?"

I'm going to keep saying it publicly until it happens: I will gladly have CJ Cherryh to my place for dinner anytime, and she can choose the menu; I'll prepare it fresh with my own two hands. I've admired her writing since I was very young, she inspired me with Gate of Ivrel to become a fantasy writer myself, and I would love the opportunity to discuss the third-person intimate internal writing style she has in intimate detail, I think it's fantastic.

I'd also be honored to have Leela Gandhi to my table. She was my seminar leader at Cornell University's School of Criticism and Theory, and I found her ideas about metaphysics and literature to be outstanding.

And I have a whole list of indie author friends that I'd love to sit down with over a good few bottles of wine. A few of them from near and far come readily to mind:

Tom Fallwell: www.tomfallwell.com
Jessica Wren: http://amzn.to/25QE6np
K-Trina Meador: http://amzn.to/1XOgvPI
Scott Borgman: http://amzn.to/1UINiBl
Rose Montague: http://amzn.to/1Un8Btz
Christie Stratos: http://amzn.to/28sLkwE
Damyanti Biswas: http://www.damyantiwrites.com/
Eric Lahti: http://amzn.to/28sLvIm
Christoph Fischer: http://amzn.to/1XOfPtO
Claire Fullerton: http://amzn.to/1toLy7Z
Niki Livingston: http://amzn.to/1XOhhMC
Lillian Roberts: http://amzn.to/1XOg9sh
Erin Sandlin: http://amzn.to/1toLNA1
Jean Lee: http://www.jeanleesworld.com

Hi Michael. Anne here. What a great thread! Some good questions and answers.
I'd like to add my contribution to keeping you busy today (lol). Whenever I'm writing, I usually hit a lag either midway through the story or at the point where everything should start coming together for a clean ending. I know every writer slams into these pesky walls. What is your usual method for working through the dreaded clutter to get to the heart of things? Thanks!

Anne wrote: "Hi Michael. Anne here. What a great thread! Some good questions and answers.
I'd like to add my contribution to keeping you busy today (lol). Whenever I'm writing, I usually hit a lag either midwa..."

Hi Anne! Thanks for stopping by!

Typically when it comes to the middle section, I encourage writers to focus on getting to the two surprises that characterize the middle part of the story. Given whatever kind of a narrative structure the writer might favor, these two surprises occur at about the 50% and 75% mark in the overall story.

One exercise I use to encourage them to work toward those two goals is to imagine them as interrelated short stories, each of which has a terrible ending for the protagonist.

So in my own work, I usually have a "three chapter quest" between the first and second surprise of the story, and then a "four-chapter mini-novel" between the second and third surprise.

In these sections of the middle, new short-term story questions are introduced that raise the stakes for the hero, and these sections then also have their own internal rising action, as well as contributing to the rising action of the overall story. This "buoys" the middle, which so often sags and meanders in early drafts (at least of my own work).

And any time that "writer's block" rears up to confound one, I always recommend asking your characters questions: What do you really want right now? What are you going to do to get it? What obstacles can the wicked villain throw in your way? Convincing the characters to answer these questions in their own voice is always a fun exercise.

Lastly, consider the structure of scene and sequel: Do the scenes occur in an order that presents the story in its most dynamic incarnation? Is it possible to change the order of scenes to improve the flow of the story? Are the villains wicked enough? Can more and better conflict be introduced to illustrate to the reader how high the stakes are and how wicked the villain is? Can the reader see/hear/taste/touch the hero's response to each new plot development?

All of these things should help to get a writer through the boggy middle section! :)

Thanks for the question!

Anne wrote: "Hi Michael. Anne here. What a great thread! Some good questions and answers.
I'd like to add my contribution to keeping you busy today (lol). Whenever I'm writing, I usually hit a lag either midwa..."

And thanks for doing your bit to keep me busy today. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. Heaven only knows what mischief I'd get up to without a keyboard under my fingertips. ;)

Here's another note from the newsletter bag. Sara asks: "Would you like to be famous? In what way?"

"Fame" is a subjective sort of thing. Would I want to be Kardashian famous, just for being famous? Sure, why not, if someone has to do it, sure, why not me? But for the day to day hassles that come with it, and TMZ lurking around every corner? Meh, I could do without.

Would I want to be famous for being good at what I do, and for making a valuable and constructive contribution to the underlying discussion that authors are having with each other through their books, and for pleasing my readership? Yes. Absolutely. I love my fans, and I love reading and "talking shop" with other authors.

Does that mean I need mad "Rowling-esque" fame? Surely the pay-check would be nice, but I'm also just as happy not to be that kind of high-profile celebrity. I like my cabin in the woods at least as much as my time at events and "around town."

Thanks for the question, Sara!

This is a common one: "Will you read my manuscript?"

I don't know. Send me a few pages in an email or a private message, and if I personally enjoy it, I certainly will do.

If you'd like me to professionally read and comment back on a manuscript as an editor, check out the services page on my website and send me a message about your project and how I can help. If it's a good fit, we'll find a place on the calendar for you!

http://www.mdellert.com/blog/writing-...

Michael wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hi Michael. Anne here. What a great thread! Some good questions and answers.
I'd like to add my contribution to keeping you busy today (lol). Whenever I'm writing, I usually hit a lag..."

Michael wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hi Michael. Anne here. What a great thread! Some good questions and answers.
I'd like to add my contribution to keeping you busy today (lol). Whenever I'm writing, I usually hit a lag..."

Thank you, Michael. I appreciate your in-depth feedback. And I'm happy to have played a small part in keeping you out of the devil's workshop!

To change things up a bit, this is an excerpt from a current work-in-progress, temporarily entitled "Bug Hunt."

*****
The acolyte Adarc sat on the terrace with me, and we enjoyed an afternoon’s tea. I sipped at mine and looked out over the lake at Avainnglyn. To the west, the Drægan ridge loomed, back-lit by a miraculous sunset, while we sat in gloaming upon the terrace of the shrine of Taiscrín and listened to the hum of bees in the glade nearby and the chatter of the insects in the fields. Over the lake, birds and bats swooped in the near dark.

Adarc was, on other days, a student of mine in the arts of divination. Since his arrival, we’d discussed the state of the apiaries, something I couldn't remember, and the metaphysical ramifications of the diviner’s spirit.

“But Lady, if the art of divination is truly an inspiration from the gods, then how does a writer like Goleuad in the fifth century write of Amddiffynnwr as a charlatan?”

He’s a reader. I felt one of my eyebrows twitch an inch.

An attendant of the shrine emerged and lit fragrant braziers on the terrace as the cool air off the ridge behind us and to the north swept down upon the lake.

I rubbed the goose bumps from my arms. “Medyr has you reading Goleuad?” I’d studied him myself at the Imperial Academy: a rhetorician and satirist of the ancient world, known for his witty and scoffing nature. An honest skeptic.

The boy nodded. “Aye, Lady.”

I waved a hand at him. “This isn’t a lesson, Adarc. We are colleagues, you may call me Neued.”

“But Lady—.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. He stammered.

“—Neued. Sorry.” He blushed. “But what of Goleuad’s skepticism? It denies without proof that which can be proven.”

“And what is it that you think can be proven?” He’s a bit of a philosopher, this one. I liked him. I wasn’t much of a philosopher, but I remembered reading Goleuad myself when I was his age.

He put forward the counter-argument I remembered. “The spectral experience of the ætheric medium, the truth of spectral evidence.”

And I remembered how my own professor had questioned me. “What makes you think these things can be proven?”

“I have heard and read tales of such things. And with my own eyes—.”

“How can you prove to me what you have seen with your own eyes if I have not seen it with my own eyes?”

“But I have seen—.”

“Prove it.” I watched as he paused, seemingly confounded. I felt a bit of malicious pride in doing to him what my own mentors through the years had done to me.
*****
Memories of good times spent with professors who never let me get away with the easy answers. ;)

Anne wrote: "Michael wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hi Michael. Anne here. What a great thread! Some good questions and answers.
I'd like to add my contribution to keeping you busy today (lol). Whenever I'm writing, I u..."

Always a pleasure, Anne. How is the second book in your Lost Trilogy coming?

For those who don't know Anne, she's the author of the paranormal crime thriller, Lost Girl, and has a new book coming out soon! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Another email from the newsletter. This one is from Tom: "If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?"

Oooo. Good question. Is the future set in stone? Do our choices effect the outcomes? Could a crystal ball even do that?

But let's take for granted we have such a crystal ball. Would I want it to tell me the truth about myself and my life? Ideally, I'd like to say yes, but "caveat emptor" comes to mind: Buyer beware, or be careful what you wish for. The truth often comes with consequences, and I'm not sure I'd want the answer to some of the questions I have about myself. At least, not yet.

But if it could tell me the truth about the future, I'd want to know that my daughters are well-provided-for in their lives and educations: decent schools, good jobs, safe places to live.

And I'd be tempted to find out how this whole "author" thing turns out.

Thanks for the question!

Time for me to get myself a dinner sammich. But before I do, "If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?"

Spidey-powers. I could totally rock some Spidey-powers. And if I could get that with a side-order of the Moxy Fruvous "Spider Man Theme" for an ambient soundtrack, that would be greeeat. ;)

https://youtu.be/uYh7x9UX0vI

No sammich, but I return with burrata cheese and heirloom tomatoes. Yum! Also, a new question from my newsletter readers: "What's the greatest accomplishment of your life?"

Without hesitation, my daughters. If I'm known for nothing else in this life, I'll be content to be known for their father. It's a shame I don't get to see them as often as I'd like.

Beyond that, these first four books of The Matter of Manred Saga, particularly The Wedding of Eithne, which had a lot of growing pains in getting from inspiration to publication.

But from the writing of them to the editing, proofreading, cover design, and production of them, even to the marketing aspect, I've enjoyed every minute of this crazy adventure in indie publishing, and accomplished a lot of long-standing goals for myself. :)