UrbanFantasyWriters Main Feed

World Building by Denise Verrico

Brandon Firestorm — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:55:27 +0000

I’ve always enjoyed books that transport me to a different time and place. It’s no surprise that speculative fiction and historical fiction are my favorite genres to read. I love Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne Rice, Mary Renault, and Robert Graves to name a few. As a child, I devoured books about Arthurian legends and the Tudor court. Horror and science fiction also appealed to me. Recently, I’ve discovered historical fantasy and have been enjoying books in that genre.

So how does an author go about building a world? In urban fantasy, we usually deal with a physical world very much like our own, although some authors like Kim Harrison have created an alternate spin on the “real world”. I like the grittiness of New York City, a place where I spent many years of my life, but the “urban” landscape isn’t always the setting in urban fantasy. There are urban fantasy stories that take place in rural towns. Heck, I even set one in the middle of a jungle in India. The contemporary setting seems to be more of a constant in urban fantasy, but it’s important to make sure you’ve thought out and researched the place you choose to set your story. Be as specific as possible with your physical world.

I find a lot of my inspiration doing my research, and then I let imagination take over. Every writer should be a reader and not just in the genre in which one writes. For the third novel in the series, My Fearful Symmetry, I’ve done research on everything from British street slang to Sanskrit mantras. There are so many resources available to the writer on the web and in the library. Any subject is of value to the writer. I studied costume history and design in college as a theater major, and I can’t tell you how valuable that knowledge has been. An understanding of geography, politics, religion, art, and music can enrich a story and set it apart. The important thing about creating a world in speculative fiction is sticking to the rules you create for your corner of the universe.

Know your paranormal creatures and make some new rules. Don’t be afraid to break some, just be consistent. I write about vampires. Yes, I know, they are a bit over exposed at present, but I’m ( if you’ll pardon the pun) am a sucker for vampire stories. I grew up on Dark Shadows. Everyone knows about old vampire legends, movie and pop culture clichés. Some authors choose stick with them, while others decide to depart from them. Urban fantasy is a realm of make-believe, and there is much room for interpretation. I think it’s fun to play around with the old myths and come up with reasons behind them or find alternatives to them.

Let your imagination run wild! You get to play God. Ah, the power it confers. I find it a challenge to take all kinds of information found in research and throw it into the pot to concoct a completely new culture. In any world, there are various cultures and subcultures with distinct rituals, rules, and beliefs. Opportunities for conflict arise when these factions clash. The trick is to give layers of detail without overwhelming the narrative with descriptive passages. I try to use action as much as possible to reveal custom. The way a character wears his clothes, washes his hands, or prays can reveal a lot about that person’s cultural background and character.

Use your passions and interests to form your world. My Immortyl Revolution series brings together many elements of research and reading that I’ve done over the years. I’m a bit of a history buff, and writing about vampires gives me an opportunity to throw people from different time periods together in a contemporary urban setting. My first novel, Cara Mia, deals a lot with Mia, the heroine, becoming a vampire and her struggle to survive as a modern woman in an ancient culture. I used this as a springboard to create a unique mythology and culture for my vamps.

Women and children in the ancient world faced challenges that today most of us would find appalling. Adult males who were poor or enslaved were in a similar boat. Ancient societies were largely patriarchal, and my Immortyl culture is built on this premise. These bad old vampire boys aren’t about to change their ways in the modern world, and this is a golden opportunity to create conflict. The oppressive ways of the Immortyl ruling class give my heroine and hero a lot to fight against.

I came up with a vampire society that falls into three main classes. The first group is the ruling class, elders and alphas, exclusively male. Then there is a soldier class, referred to as dogs, that is also male. The third class is made up of male and female slaves who provide companionship and sex to those above them. Among these are the adepts of the ancient arts, temple dancers and courtesans, who are in a sense Immortyl celebrities, famed for their beauty and talent. Yes, my vampires even have their own religion. These devotees of the Immortyl cult of Kali come into the series in book three, My Fearful Symmetry. The adepts are often pawns of intrigue within the chief elder’s court. At the bottom rung of Immortyl society are the sewer rats, bands of runaway and cast-off slaves. These are mostly kids and teenagers in form who were cruelly trafficked by their masters and live like feral animals in very poor conditions. They become the backbone of the revolution.

You never know what might inspire your world. I love to read about biological science and genetics. My series plot, the race to capture the secrets of immortality, was inspired by articles I’ve read on biotechnology. Lots of vampire stories are based on magic, but I opted for no magical powers in my world, except for the magic worked by a DNA molecule. I decided to make my vampires biologically altered human beings, not the undead variety, so they behave a lot like mortals in many respects. Still, my Immortyls have enhanced physical abilities, can’t go out in the sun, and can drink only human blood. I like some kind of “kryptonite” to limit my vamps. The fun was in coming up with the reasons for these limitations.

Another important element for a lot of urban fantasy is a magic system. I’ll admit, I’m a neophyte here. I’m currently writing another urban fantasy book that is magic based, and I’m researching all kinds of stuff on witchcraft, mythology and magic. I think it’s tougher than writing a science-based world, because the writer has to take all these elements of magic and boil them down to something that is his or her own. It has to make sense and have rules. It can be very simple or complex, but it has to be consistent.

In urban fantasy, one also has to decide whether it will be an “open” or “closed” world. Are your paranormal creatures out of the supernatural closet? Or do they hide in the shadows or live off the grid? This is an important decision for a writer to make, because it provides different levels of conflict. I opted to go for a closed world in my books. Up until this point, the Immortyls have kept their condition secret and only a handful of mortals know about them. In subsequent books, that world will begin to open and create all kinds of juicy conflict for the characters.

So, go to it! Build that unique world for the reader to discover. The spectrum of speculative fiction offers so many opportunities for an author to stretch the imagination, and every writer has unique experience and knowledge to share. There are so many worlds out there yet to discover and mythologies yet to create. I look forward to both reading and writing about them.

Here is an excellent resource on world-building for the writer by Patricia C. Wrede at the SFWA site that I’ve found helpful:

http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/.

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BIO: Denise Verrico is a New Jersey native who grew up in Pennsylvania. She attended Point Park College in Pittsburgh, where she majored in theatre arts. For seven seasons she was a member of The Oberon Theatre Ensemble in NYC with whom she acted, directed and wrote plays. Denise has enjoyed vampire stories from the time she was a little girl and a fan of the Dark Shadows television series and Chiller Theater. She enjoys reading non-fiction and fiction of all kinds, particularly historical fiction, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, manga and graphic novels.

NEW BOOK!

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Borders ebook:
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Link to trailer (This is a trailer for my first two books)

Getting it right by James Tuck

Brandon Firestorm — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:14:44 +0000

“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? ”
- Albert Einstein

Writers are liars. It’s true, and certainly not a new sentiment. We make shit up to entertain others.

And we are pretty good at it. I mean, get a bunch of urban fantasy writers in the same room and the discussions of vampire politics and the different strains of lycanthropy can become downright damn EPIC. We will sit and contemplate all things esoteric in our stories, dragging from the musty shelves of our inner library things we have read, both mythological, historical, and fictional. (Yes, I am aware that is actually three things and three things cannot be a ‘both’. Don’t get lippy.)

These nuggets of knowledge all blend together to make us experts on our own brand of supernatural as it applies to our story.

But we often try to do the same thing to the real world stuff, and that is where we fall down, scraping our metaphorical knees and making us walk with a metaphorical limp as we cry for our metaphorical mommy. (That is a whole lot of metaphor, but you catch my drift.)

This genre of urban fantasy is named such because we take that fantastical, supernatural, and theoretical element and shove it right into the modern reality of life. The rub between the two is part of what makes our fiction so good, but only if we write the ordinary world stuff as well as we write the supernatural stuff.

Here are some big things you should do in real life, if they apply to your story. This won’t be comprehensive, merely suggestive, but it should kickstart your critical eye as to places you may need to do real world research.

* Does your heroine (or anybody in your story) wear heels? If so, do you know how to walk/run/fight in them?

* Does your hero/heroine wear boots, combat or otherwise? Do you know how it is to walk/run/fight in them?

* Do any of your characters have any body piercing/tattoos? If so, for the love of all things holy, RESEARCH this. I have been a professional tattoo artist as my day job for over fifteen years. In all my years of reading urban fantasy where people have piercings or tattoos I have read only ONE proper take on it. Talk to an artist or a person who has what you want to write for your character.

* Are there guns used in your book? I bet there are. We love guns for our characters, but if you have never held or shot a gun, then you are getting it wrong. You are. You can’t help it. (Hey, one of my favorite authors, whose talent is far greater than mine, once wrote her character pulling back the hammer on her Glock. The only problem? Glocks do not have hammers. Nothing like a hammer. Nothing to pull back.) So go to a gun range, rent a gun, and shoot it. Or come to Atlanta, hit me up, and I will take you to the range and teach about shooting a gun. Oh, and count your bullets when writing. Guns only hold so many bullets and it drives me crazy to read writers going all Hollywood with guns that apparently never need reloading.

* Last, but not least, have you ever driven a car like that hotrod you gave your character? If not you need to find a car club and see if someone with a car like the one you wrote about will give you a research spin around the block.

Go out, live a bit like your characters, write it off as research, and have fun. It will make your writing better.

Until next time, write well.

James R. Tuck is the author of the Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter series. Book one, BLOOD AND BULLETS, will be available February 7, 2012 from Kensington Publishing and is available to for pre-order from Amazon.

http://www.jamesrtuck.com

New Book Available

Brandon Firestorm — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:19:35 +0000

How Can You Find Freelance Writing Jobs?

Brandon Firestorm — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:16:28 +0000

By: Nisha Garg

Do you think that there is a big sign that reads, “Freelance Writing Jobs, Apply Within”? There just is not. In fact, you may have a hard time finding writing jobs of any type advertised in any employment magazine or newspaper either. So, how do you find freelance writing jobs? Let us talk about this for a moment and see if we can’t find an idea or two that will work for you.

1. Begin at the beginning. Get the education you need to have. Learn what there is to know about the field in which you are looking for job vacancies. Having knowledge itself can open doors. This can help with step two as well.

2. When you do have that knowledge, do not forget to look towards the teachers you got it from for help in finding a niche to work in. They may have more resources than you realize.

3. Create a portfolio. Even if you never have any published work, you can still write, right? Write to fill your portfolio. Then, when a prospective employment opportunity arises, you’ll have something to provide in the way of samples.

4. Look online. Vast amounts of freelance writing jobs are offered there. If the work can be submitted online, why not look worldwide? Try doing a websearch for “freelance writing jobs”.

5. Keeping striving to meet the needs of your clients 100%. When you make them happy, they will come back with other jobs for you. And, they will provide you with testimonials and referrals as well.

All of these things can work for you when you allow them to. You need to provide yourself with all the tools you need. Most importantly, this is writing. You must be able to meet your client’s needs and therefore will need to present your talents in the right light each time. When you are looking for freelance writing jobs you’ll find them across the world when you look in the right places.

The Lure of Urban Fantasy

Brandon Firestorm — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:33:23 +0000

By Larry Christopher

Urban Fantasy is a loosely defined term to describe fantasy novels that take place in modern, often urban settings rather than imaginary realms. Some of the more popular authors of this genre are Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman and Emma Bull. It is, however, a quickly growing field, so there are many newer and lesser known books and authors out there.

In some ways, Urban Fantasy overlaps with horror and tales of the supernatural, which are also usually set in modern times. Fantasy, however, while it can be dark, usually focuses on creatures and circumstances that are very different from the everyday, but does not indulge in fright, gore or mayhem for its own sake.

Although, like many readers, I was introduced to the fantasy genre by books such as The Lord of the Rings, lately I have come to prefer urban to more traditional fantasies. I think this is because with this type of book, there is the interesting juxtaposition of the everyday with the fantastical. I see it as the literary equivalent of surrealism, where ordinary objects are placed in very unusual or bizarre positions.

I think the popularity of urban fantasy is related to television programs and movies like the Twilight Zone. In these shows, people start off in completely ordinary circumstances, but something very strange then occurs –creatures from other worlds appear; a person goes back or forward in time; objects take on a life of their own; they find themselves in a completely unknown environment (as in the movie, The Cube).

Imaginary worlds like Tolkien’s Middle Earth are certainly fascinating. However, with urban fantasy, the reader can immediately relate to the environment in which the characters reside. This also adds an additional challenge to the author, who has to find a way to transform the everyday and mundane into the unknown and exciting.

Faeries and other denizens of Otheworlds are popular characters in urban fantasy. This is probably because they represent the borderlands separating the known from the supernatural or fantastic. While creatures such as faeries and elves were traditionally found in nature, today we are beginning to imagine them existing in previously unthinkable places, such as shopping malls.

Urban Fantasy also has the appeal of helping us imagine a more interesting world just below the surface of our everyday one. It suggests that, in order to experience something very different, we don’t necessarily have to visit another planet or dimension. It may just be a matter of shifting our focus and seeing the world around us in a new way.

Larry Christopher is a writer and researcher on many topics, including cultural issues, the arts and metaphysics. He is also the author of the urban fantasy novel, The Stone of Alexandria.

http://www.urbanfantasy.info

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http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Lure-of-Urban-Fantasy&id=1119441

5 Ways to Enhance Your Creativity

Brandon Firestorm — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:58:36 +0000

We’re born creative. However, this innate characteristic becomes buried as we get older. Our logical left brain usually takes the driver’s seat. Here are 5 ways to help you unearth your creative self.

1. Surprise Your Mind. List laughable, ridiculous, outrageous and bizarre ideas. Don’t limit yourself to ideas that other people consider “sane,” “reasonable” or “logical.” The best and most creative ideas stem from silly ones. When you’re in a creative mode, you’re suspending judgment on ideas you generate. You simply list them all down and never worry whether they make sense or not. Allow yourself the freedom to think outside the box.

2. Aim for Quantity. Generate loads of ideas for you to go through later. It’s normal that your first few ideas won’t really be fresh. The gems will come out later so it’s important to keep going. With a large list of ideas, you’ll have more to choose from, adapt or combine. Creativity is not coming up with something new from nothing; creativity is the ability to create something novel from ideas/ things that already exist by combining, improving or refining them.

3. Be Playful. A relaxed and playful attitude fosters creativity. Those creative juices flow best when you’re not restrained by your logical, left brain. Toy with ideas and forget about being too careful. Be a child again and play.

4. Believe that Everything has a Solution. An optimistic outlook always leads to solutions, no matter how impossible a problem or task may be. Often when a solution can’t be found, all that’s needed is for the problem to be redefined. Or when you think you’re stumped, surprise your mind with silly solutions then work backwards, leading to the original problem. Cultivate an attitude of continuing search for solutions.

5. Let Go of Your Fear of Failure. Don’t expect to do something perfectly for the first time. Thomas Edison tried about 1800 things for the perfect filament for the incandescent lamp. Fear of failure is one of the major factors that can hinder your creativity. Instead of looking at failed attempts negatively, look at your failures as learning opportunities. Failing isn’t fun, but neither is doing nothing.

About Author

Shery is the creator of WriteSparks! – a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks! Lite for free – http://writesparks.com

Source: ArticleTrader.com

How To Break Into Movie Writing

Brandon Firestorm — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:44:36 +0000

Author: Ron Subs

Do you have some great ideas for movies but no idea how to get them out to the producers who can actually make them into a film? Do you often go to the movies and think that you can do better and have better ideas when it comes to movie making? If so, you should know that the internet has given you options that were never before possible when it came to breaking into movie writing.

There are a few ways that you can break into movie writing – you can know a producer who will listen to your ideas, you can write a screenplay that is something unique that the producers will love or you can pitch your ideas on the internet. Two of these ideas can be costly and time consuming, but pitching your ideas online is easy. In some cases, you only need an idea concept of about 300 words in order to get the attention of a producer.

Here is the lowdown on how to break into movie writing:

Pitching your idea to a producer

This works great if you happen to know a producer. Most of us do not know any producers. Even those who do know producers have a difficult time with this as the producers are often busy and will often make empty promises to their friends. Pitching your idea to a producer may seem like a great way to break into movie writing, but it is a long shot at best.

Writing an original screenplay

You can break into the movies if you write an original screenplay aka Good Will Hunting or Rocky, both written by two unknowns. However, their success is overshadowed by the millions of people who are out there with screenplays that never made it to the screen because they could not even get an assistant to look at it. A screenplay takes time and money to write. It takes a lot of blood sweat and tears. And few people have the ability to write purely for speculation. Writing an original screenplay is better than the pitch, but can be difficult to get it even read, at best.

Use a movie ideas website

When you post your movie ideas on a movie ideas website, you are getting your idea across to the general public who will be going to the movies. Because it is under common copyright, you do not have to worry about anyone stealing your idea, but you can get the idea out to the public who will be going to the movies and getting their reaction. The internet has changed the way that Hollywood determines what will be a hit when it comes to the movies. One of the ways that they are using to gage hit movies is to use the internet and the reaction of the pubic to the movie ideas that are posted online. If you use a movie ideas website, you can gage the reaction of the public to your movie idea as well as perhaps get the attention of a movie producer. This can be your best option when trying to break into movie writing.

About the Author:

Ron Subs works with Make’N Movies as a public relations consultant, more information about Ron Subs can be found at http://www.makenmovies.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – How To Break Into Movie Writing

New Book Bundle for Sale.

Brandon Firestorm — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:33:28 +0000

Fairy Tale Lust

Erin_ORiordan — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:36:36 +0000

Edited by Kristina Wright

ISBN-10: 1573443972

ISBN-13: 978-1573443975

Rating: 5 stars

Reviewed by: Erin O’Riordan

We see the words “fairy tale,” and we automatically think of frivolous, fluffy stories with no real significance. Scratch the surface, however, and you find that fairy tales are full of all the stuff of dreams and nightmares, the stuff of life: birth, death, courage and cowardice, anxiety, starvation, love and lust, humiliation, redemption. Like our most cherished religious myths, fairy tales tell us who we are at our very core and give us hints at what we might need…and our most secret desires. Far from child’s play, fairy tales have earned the right to transition to our adulthood bedtime stories.

Cleis Press seems to be especially good at the adult fairy tale genre. First Cleis published Mitzi Szereto’s gleefully erotic tales of long, long ago in a faraway land, In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed. This time. Cleis Press has published Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies For Women, edited by Kristina Wright and featuring a talented stable of erotic writers. Along with tales of long, long ago and far away there are stories so contemporary and realistically told, they could be happening next door, right now.

It’s a charming amalgam. “How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back” (in a sushi restaurant!) is as beguiling as a siren. “The Return” is eerily seductive. “Three Times” is breathtaking. Jeremy Edwards’ reworking of “Goldielocks and the Three Bears” is cute, but so often in these tales, cute is a mere cover for the deep, dark well of human desires. “In the Dark Woods” by editor Kristina Wright is a modern-day morality play of good and evil, playing out on a mattress. They’re all so charming, it’s nearly impossible to choose a favorite.

Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12) (Hardcover)

Brandon Firestorm — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:23:17 +0000

As the name Jim Butcher is etched on every hard covered book he wrote, you will still be amazed with his creativity no matter how many books he’d written for the past eleven years. It is with no doubt that Butcher is on his limelight and the Dresden Files may be in general the top series to date.

For the past eleven years, Butcher focused on establishing Harry’s character, his desire for family, the dedication to saving guiltless children, and his eagerness to smolder the world in order to accomplish the right thing despite the consequences. He was able to balanced Harry on the boundary of numerous nasty temptations, and revealed that Harry’s obsession has the potential to direct him poorly off track.

In this novel Harry was crashed onto that border and then knocks him with a truck, and a great deal of the pressure appears from watching Harry realize just how ethical and poignant he is, after all, eager to cross, no matter how many unalterable steps he’s willing to take, in order to save his daughter.

As a fan, I came across ample reasons to laugh to myself in between the trademark humor of this series. One of which was Harry’s sharp refusal to put on a hat, a slight inaccuracy of the cover’s art. Despite that, though, this is undeniably the expressively disturbing book in the series so far, and I anticipate it marks a style we’ll see to carry on soon after this book. I believe Butcher plans to write just about twelve more books in the Dresden series.

Similar to numerous season finales, this volume ends on a speck of a climax — despite the fact that the design of this novel’s resolved, there’s a peak of the moment on the last page or so. Well, the excellent news is that the impending Dresden Files short story anthology, _Side Jobs_, due out in October/November of this year, will contain a short story (titled “Aftermath”) placed forty five minutes after the wrapping up of this one. So with anticipation we won’t have to wait a full year for some resolution on that front.

Mary Synn Ranara
HomeBased Call Center Solutions

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