An author’s confession

Readers often ask me, “so what books do you read, Rune?” They assume authors spend a lot of time reading books. Because if not, how could they become better at their craft, and come up with ideas?

Well, getting ideas was never my problem. For every idea I use, I come up with ten I don’t.

“My confession is that I used to read more fantasy for the fun of it …

I suppose some authors do spend a lot of time reading. It’s just that since I began writing novels my reading patterns have changed. My confession is that I used to read more fantasy for fun.

It’s not that I don’t read fantasy. This week I read three short stories, the Tales of Annarheimur by Stephen E Seale (but that was to give him feedback.) The fantasy I read these days is to provide colleagues with feedback. And while I do enjoy it, I seldom pick up a book to read for fun.

What changed?
I write every day and sometimes I can’t sleep because of stories I’m thinking up, or scenes I’m creating. I think, that since I’m living and breathing fantasy all day long, my need to read is not as big.

Here’s a picture from this morning. It was our anniversary, and I made brunch :-) These days, I find that “my life” inspires me more than books do.

Here’s a picture from this morning. It was our anniversary, and I made brunch :-) These days, I find that “my life” inspires me more than books do.

If fantasy books don’t inspire you what does?
That’s a gross oversimplification. I still read fantasy, and many series, I read earlier on, inspire me to this day.

I do have this issue that I’ve gotten so used to editing my work, that any text I read I instantly want to change, like removing a sentence, altering a character, or tweaking the worldbuilding.

Although this might be just a phase, it does happen all the time and it ruins the experience (especially if the writing is not my cup of tea.)

“… writing has never been about copying the stuff that’s trending …

Mostly I try to write and live my life 😊

I find myself spending more time on other things, like playing games or watching series (I just watched the first six episodes of the Nevers on HBO. Some good writing there, but too many scenes with nudity that felt forced on the actors because they had little plot relevance.)

My style
When I began writing, I decided two things, I wanted to find my own style (not just steal someone else’s way of doing things,) and I wanted to learn the ropes from authors that knew more than me.

I was afraid that if I read fantasy while writing my own stuff, I might inadvertently copy ideas or styles of writing. I decided not to read any fantasy while I was writing my first book. I didn’t quite live up to it, though (couldn’t quite stay away.) What did I read then? Well, I enjoy science fiction, so a lot of that.

On the subject of style: for me, writing has never been about copying the stuff that’s trending or being into what everyone else is into. I’m also not a fan of authors whose writing is about shoveling their ideological agendas down the reader’s throat, especially where it makes the story uninspired and simple.

How did you know how to write fantasy “the right way”?
Since I was careful not to copy by mistake anyone's writing style, I did at one point try to analyze how to make the best first page and first chapter. I did this by reading and analyzing the beginnings of a few specific fantasy books that I absolutely love.

I wanted to understand how my favorite authors did it. Not to write the same way, but to find the essence of what they mastered (and I didn’t.) From there, I realized how little I knew, and so I began to read books by other authors about writing, and I watched authors talk about their writing (I still do this, every week, all year long.)

“I knew that I wanted to write something that I would love to read.

My reading habits became more of a ‘how do you do it, and do it well.’ Using the examples, tips, tutorials, workshops, masterclasses, and whatever I could scrounge up. I still do this sort of thing WAY more than I read books for pleasure.

What I learned from my favorite books
You might wonder what I got out of analyzing the beginnings of books that I love. Well, some of it was that they all started with scenes that have motion/action in them, and not only that but they have stuff that’s easy to visualize for the reader in a way that really puts the ‘images of the fantastic’ (or the known) right into your mind and catches your interest right away.

I also knew that I want to sell books (who doesn’t?) and so I had to figure out how to write something that people would like or even love.

How do you do that?
I wasn’t sure, but I knew that I wanted to write something that I would love to read. And since I love what for me is the classics (Lord of The Rings and Wheel of Time being my two favorite fantasy series of all time, but there are many other books besides them that I love) I thought about what it was in those stories that enthralled me, and why they work less well today. For instance, the reader’s attention span is next to nothing these days, and to capture someone you must make stuff interesting right away and keep it so.

I tried to find the core of what I wanted to write, and I began my search by trying to capture what I loved most about fantasy. Now, you must understand that this is a difficult task as it’s an extremely wide genre. Fantasy encompasses such different things as stories about heroic knights of the round table, tragic mermaids, cool private investigator wizards in an urban modern world, bastard pirates who might fancy a dally romance, fantastic superheroes who defend their city, Jedis in outer space, dragons or elves that outlive and outthink humans, paranormal investigators, little fat boys or young girls who get lost in books, wardrobes, or holes below trees. And so much more 😊

I narrowed what I like, down to a shortlist of the books that I love the most (in the genre that I write in.) Since I discovered the fantasy genre in the 1980’ties (when my mother introduced me to The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, The Brothers Lionheart, The NeverEnding Story, The Books of The Earthsea, and many other great works of fantasy,) I found that those books and stuff like the DragonLance Chronicles, The Wheel of Time Series, the books by Raymond E. Feist and others were still what inspired me (even though I had read a lot of contemporary stuff.)

On the other hand computer games like World of Warcraft, roleplaying games like D&D and Warhammer, and the movie version of Lord of The Rings inspire me just as much as any book.

“I plan to buy all the six winners of the SPFBO competitions …

Nostalgia does play a part in my love, and I think that each generation has its own “classics.” The stuff that they first found and loved.

I’m sure for many of you it might be Harry Potter, and that is just as good as the stuff I love. As long as something is a quality book, I personally don’t care if it was written yesterday or a hundred years ago. If it was published by the author him- or her-self or by a company. Quality is quality and it’s my hope that I someday might write a “classic.” By that, I mean something that is read by a lot of people who draw inspiration from it. If you don’t try you will never succeed that’s for sure 😊

What books are on my reading list?
I have a ton of unread books (mostly fantasy and sci-fi.)

And I plan to buy all the six winners of the SPFBO competitions and read those (for inspiration purposes.)

My novel, Doomsayer Prince, is currently a part of SPFBO#7, and once you join, you figure out how excruciatingly tough a competition this is!

300 fantasy books compete throughout a whole year. Being pitted against each other by some serious judges with a lot of knowledge. These people read so much it’s breathtaking. (Note added later: not surprisingly my debut novel was not the one left standing as the winner. The judges write 299 cut-posts during the competition. Only one gets the reward. It was fun while it lasted though, the hope of getting a spot in the top. Also, fun to be a part of the competition and I did get some contacts, sold a bit, and chewed off a lot of nails while waiting for five months for them to give me any kind of verdict. About my debut novel, one of the judges wrote: “It’s a great concept! It was also nice to see the main culture of the world not based in the Dark Ages of Europe.” The judges didn’t like the prose or the pacing, though, and so they let it go. That was a punch to the gut after 2½ years of work, but at least they did not say it was crap, and I have a bunch of reviews giving it a five-star rating, so perhaps if I had gotten some other judges I would have made it further. Who knows. You can’t let these things get you down. You just have to continue writing :-))

Been there, done that 😊
OK, so which fantasy books do I read?
Well, Earlier this year, I finished A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay. I liked the characters, and the fantasy novel had a “sweet sadness” about it. It was not a page-turner for me, however. Maybe it was just me, but I put it down a few times. Still, I liked the ending, and it was worth the time I put into it.

“So which books couldn't I finish?

I also read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (the bestselling author of Eat Pray Love) and much enjoyed this self-help book for writers (and anyone desiring to live a life of creativity.) It’s easy to read, the text and the arguments flow through you, and it’s an insightful read. I especially liked the first half of the book. always good fun to read about someone who has the same experiences regarding being creative as oneself (what she writes about the physical bodily sensations and the deep feelings (spiritual if you like) accompanying the idea creation process and the experience of writing, and I can totally understand why she is concluding being inspired by a genius (the Roman version not the renaissance one) or by Uriel, a spirit, muse, angel or whatever we name this inspiration. I do the same thing, in my own way 😊

The books I don’t read
I do have some “bad habits.” I often read parts of a book and then stop. Sorry, if that offends you, but sometimes I do go back and finish these books later, then again not always. If I’m not entertained, then the book has not lived up to the “contract I thought we had” which for me is “you are supposed to entertain me or teach me something valuable.”

I always read a few chapters, as most books are hard to get into before you have done that. You must give yourself time to get into the “mindset” of that particular writer and get used to the way she or he writes before you can hope to enjoy yourself. I guess that is one of the reasons we tend to read stuff by the same authors over and over. We understand how they write/portray the world, and we believe they will entertain or educate us.

So which books couldn't I finish?

I recently began reading The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks. I loved the beginning of the series but heard the last book, The Burning White, was a disappointment, and as I did not love the beginning of The Blood Mirror, for now, I put it in the drawer.

I also began reading Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey and put it on hold. I do love the Expanse series. (I previously reviewed Leviathan Burns by James S.A. Corey. It-s one of the prior novels in the series.)

My TBR list
So many books I want to read. On Audible I have begun listening to Red Sister by Mark Lawrence's, Book of the Ancestor trilogy. So far, it’s great. I took Brandon Sanderson’s amazing YouTube writing course. That man is so smart, and I decided to read (on my Kindle) The Final Empire.

I’ll get to those once I get through some of the books on my shelves, like the sci-fi novels I borrowed: Jack Campbell's Genesis Fleet: Triumphant (I’ve read almost all books written by Jack Campbell and I previously reviewed Daughter of Dragons and I reviewed Blood of Dragons and Destiny of Dragons), Craig Alanson's SpecOps, and Columbus Day, and Ian Douglas, Star Corpsman, Bloodstar. Plus, three hardcovers by Anna Smith Spark, The Court of Broken Knives, The Tower of Living and Dying, and The House of Sacrifice, and Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, and Gary The Gecko’s Guide to Getting Your Humans to Get Together by Christina “DZA” Marie. The title alone should make anyone want to read it :-)

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