Over at Shawn Speakman’s blog, though unrelated to the original post, he and I started to discuss titles for novels, mostly concerning the two we are working on, and it got me thinking in general about some of my favourite titles out there.

I’ve always been a fan of poetic titles – The Blade Itself, The Darkness That Comes Before, The Wooden Sea, Blood Follows, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, The Lies of Locke Lamora – but they obviously don’t always fit every sort of novel. There are plenty of more traditional titles that I really like as well – The Book of Joby, Faith of the Fallen, The Naked God, Wizard and Glass, The Name of the Wind, To Green Angel Tower.

So I thought to myself, ‘why not ask my readers!’ It was a pretty brilliant idea, so I ask:

What are some of your favourite titles?

and

What, in your opinion, makes for a good title?

Over at his blog, Ecstatic Days, Jeff Vandermeer has taken the time to give up and coming writers some tips from the heart… or rather, tips from the evil monkey chained to his desk. Always worth listening to, Vandermeer pulls back a little bit of the curtain and says things that most writers probably think, but don’t want to say.

A couple of my favourites:

You can find the whole thing HERE.

One subject that I often see pop up in areas frequented by aspiring writers is that of word count. I know it’s something myself have often wondered about, and so when I ran across these two great blog posts about the subject, I thought I’d pass them along to those of you who are hard at work on your first masterpiece.

The First is courtesy of Nathan Bransford, a literary agent (and great blogger) working for Curtis Brown Ltd., who, by his own admission, is a little lackadaisical about word count:

You can read the whole thing HERE.

The nameless scribe of Editorial Ass is a little more stringent when it comes to taking a look at submissions:

You can check out the full post HERE.

Hopefully this shed’s a little light on the mystery!

When I first began A Dribble of Ink I decided early on that I was going to keep most of my personal, writing life out of the picture. I wanted to present a professional publication that focused on bringing great content to my readers and not a tool to further my budding career as a writer.

I’m proud to say I think I’ve done quite well at this.

However, that itch to speak about myself and have an outlet to think outloud about my writing is still there and so I have created another blog, Mightier than the Sword as a means to flex my creative muscles and also let some of my readers, those who are interested, know more about me and my writing.

I hope it will be a fun, informative place where I can pontificate about my experiences as an aspiring writer, similar to what Shawn Speakman and many other authors are doing. I’ll be posting everything from Short Fiction, sample chapters and simple musings on writing over there, so if you think you’re interested, check it out HERE!

Kurt Vonnegut (RIP) was a master and, even in death, can always teach aspiring writers a thing or two about the craft of writing. He shares with us his 8 rules for writing fiction.

Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Rules for Writing Fiction

As a writer, something I’ve always put a lot of thought into, and struggled with, to be honest, the use of 3rd-person narrative versus 1st-person narrative. I really feel that both are incredibly valid ways to tell a story, and each comes with its own pros and cons. As a reader, I enjoy both for different reasons as well and often get in moods where only one type of storytelling and narrative will satisfy me. I don’t seem to be the only one who feels this way, either.

In preparation for this article I decided to go out and get an objective look at the subject, so I looked towards two of my favourite forums (Westeros and the Official Terry Brooks Forum) for some opinions. The subject prompted a lot of good, intelligent debate on the forums and I was pleasently surprised by what I found.
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Shawn C. Speakman, known to many of my readers as the man behind The Signed Page, is a good friend of mine. Beyond that, though, he is a storyteller. Like many of us, Shawn is an aspiring writer, looking to emulate the success of many of his idols (some of whom he also considers friends) and is hard at work on a trilogy titled Battle’s Perilous Edge, with the first novel being called Song of the Fell Hammer. The problem however, according to his blog, is that he has been unsuccessful so far in finding an agent to represent him or a publisher to publish him.

Why?

This is pretty darn silly if you ask me. Sure, Urban Fantasy is king (or should I say Queen…) at the moment, but that doesn’t mean epic fantasy doesn’t sell. George R.R. Martin, anyone? Too established. Fine, how about Patrick Rothfuss? New writer, epic fantasy and a first person narrative? Terry Brooks’ latest novel was once again a New York Times Bestseller, R.A. Salvatore still sells bucket loads and newcomer Joe Abercrombie seems to be doing pretty well for himself.
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   Thanks to Shawn Speakman (a good friend of mine, a terrific author and the man behind The Signed Page) I had the chance to meet one of Fantasy’s biggest authors, Steven Erikson. In fact, I didn’t only meet him, I spent an afternoon with him and Shawn and we had a good chance to talk about everything from Fantasy, to windy islands, to K.J. Parker’s latest trilogy (The Engineer Trilogy, it’s really good apparently!), to my own writing career, and even Pat from Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist (Nothing but good things, Pat. I promise!).

   It’s obviously a pretty rare chance to sit down with a published author and be able to shoot the shit for a couple of hours. It’s an even rarer chance to do so with an author who many will argue is the finest in the genre at the moment.
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   About a week ago, John (from Grasping for the Wind) posted a well thought out and articulated article on his stance regarding the presence of swearing in Fantasy novels. This is a topic I’m constantly thinking about and I planned on writing a response… but, well, time got away from me and I never really got around to it. Then Joe Abercrombie, (author of The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and the forthcoming Last Argument of Kings, brought his own thoughts to the table and I figured this would be a perfect time to finally add my own ideas and opinions to the mix.
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This one’s for all the aspiring writers out there.

Pick the Brain has put together a list of 10 writing tips from some of the literary world’s biggest names. A lot of it is common sense, but it also pays to refresh yourself on what some of the best writers of all time think is worthy enough to leave behind for future writers.

You can find the whole list HERE.

This terrific article was brought to my attention the other day by one of my creative writing professor at school. The Turkey City Lexicon a hilarious look at the clichés, pitfalls and incongruities of the Science Fiction genre and looks to help writers, new and old alike, avoid them in the future!

Lewis Shiner, the original editor of the article, explains:

Here are just a few of my favourite quotes!

“Said” Bookism
‘An artificial verb used to avoid the word “said.” “Said” is one of the few invisible words in the English language and is almost impossible to overuse. It is much less distracting than “he retorted,” “she inquired,” “he ejaculated,” and other oddities. The term “said-book” comes from certain pamphlets, containing hundreds of purple-prose synonyms for the word “said,” which were sold to aspiring authors from tiny ads in American magazines of the pre-WWII era.’

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Being a writer is different these days. No longer are writers confined to their little cabins in the woods, shut out from all social contact until their next book tour. Instead they are now a part of a rapidly growing community of bloggers, messageboard fiends, and Internet Celebrities: and they’d better be ready and willing to take part in discussion with their fans, respond to criticism of their own works or just shoot the shit with friends they have never met in person, or they just might be left behind in the dust.

There seems to have been a tremendous shift in focus in recent days from publishers and authors alike, a shift that is taking authors off their untouchable pedestals and placing them down among their fans, in an effort to show just how real and genuine these authors really are. No longer are the days when the only contact a fan could have with their favourite authors is regulated to a yearly tour stop… if they come to your area at all.

This Internet phenomenon is an evolution of the old word-of-mouth advertising that has fueled book sales for hundreds of years. But in this new Internet-savvy world, instead of a fan being able to reach a dozen or so of their friends, blogs and message boards are now allowing this word-of-mouth to reach the eyes and ears of literally thousands of other readers. A simple post from a well established blog such as Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, or a favourable review from a popular website like SFFworld can go great lengths in bolstering the buzz or appeal around an author’s latest work. New Fantasy authors such as David Anthony Durham, Scott Lynch and Patrick Rothfuss have benefited greatly from the positive buzz associated with their novels throughout the Blog-o-sphere.

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In what is probably A Dribble of Ink‘s biggest interview yet, we have one of the genre’s premier authors, Ms. Robin Hobb! Robin Hobb is the author of the acclaimed Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Trilogy, and Tawny Man Trilogy and this year will see the release of Renegade’s Magic, the final book in her fourth trilogy, The Soldier Son Trilogy, a fantastic series of book set in an all new world as compelling as any she has created before.

Enough with the introductions, though, and on to the goods!
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Alright! As promised here is the second, and meatier, portion of my interview with Patrick Rothfuss, author extraordinaire and the man behind this year’s biggest fantasy debut, The Name of the Wind. If you haven’t already read it, make sure to check out Part One of the Patrick Rothfuss interview!

The Interview

Q: Much of Kvothe’s story revolves around a certain female character who puts him through his own little piece of hell (and a little piece of heaven, too), was this woman inspired by a real life counterpart?

     A: Oh yes. Definitely yes. But over the years she has developed into her own person.

Q: “The Four Corners of Civilization” has been created with a lot of depth, there are little things in the novel which subtly add to the depth of the world without overwhelming the reader, such as one-off mentions of random coins in Kvothe’s purse. Would you consider yourself a strong world builder? Or is it just one of the necessary evils in the fantasy genre as it is today?

     A: I love worldbuilding. It’s as much fun for me as writing itself. It’s like a hobby of mine.
      I think I have two things working in my favor as a worldbuilder. One, I’ve got a solid grounding in history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, etc etc. That means I actually have a good idea about how societies change and evolve. I know how a lot of them have actually functioned through the years. I can put together a culture that’s cool and different, while still being logically consistent, so that it feels real. So many fantasy worlds are either implausible, cookie-cutter, or both. Mine aren’t.
      The second thing that helps me do a good job is that I don’t feel the need to explain everything about the world to my reader. I’m not writing a history text on the Four Corners. I’m telling a story that’s set there. The setting belongs in the background for the most part, and it’s easy for fantasy authors to forget that. That’s one of the unfortunate parts of Tolkien’s legacy, in my opinion. Read the first hundred pages of the Fellowship of the Ring and you start to get pissed, “Shut up about the Shire’s museums! Isn’t the world supposed to be in peril or something?”
      Don’t get me wrong, I grew up reading Tolkien, and I love him. But I love him in the way that you love that rambly old grandfather. You have to sit through some pretty off-topic stuff before he starts telling his cool old war stories.

Q: Will we see more of “The Four Corners of Civilization” in further books? Or does the University continue to be a central setting for the rest of Kvothe’s story?

     A: Both. The university is central, and Kvothe likes it there. It’s more of a home to him than anything else that he has in the world. In some ways he’d like nothing better than to stay and learn everything he can…
      But his life is more complicated than that. For one thing, education doesn’t come cheap, and Kvothe doesn’t have the means to support himself indefinitely at the University. Perhaps more importantly, he’s smart enough to realize that many of the things he wants to know can’t be found in books.
      So in book two Kvothe goes abroad to seek his fortune. He heads to Vintas and learns something of the political situation there.
      Hmmmm…. I don’t think I’ll say any more than that. I’m not big on spoilers….

Q: Well, then, perhaps you can answer this question (spoiler-free, of course!): one of the things I enjoyed the most about The Name of the Wind was that the story and plot did not rely on the heavy action scenes and big army battles that so many Fantasy novels use as their crutch. This was a breath of fresh air, but can we expect to see the swashbuckling ramp up as Kvothe travels out into the wide world over the course of the next two books?

      A: Yes. It’s fair to say that there is more action in the next couple books. It wouldn’t be realistic to have twelve year old Kvothe doing much swashbuckling. But sixteen year old Kvothe? Yeah. It’s safe to say that he’ll be buckling a little swash.

Q: Rumor has it that you turned down another publishing house offering you more money and instead signed with DAW Books. What was it about DAW that drew you to their publishing house?

     A: Actually, we turned down two other publishers before we took DAW’s offer.
      I went with DAW for a lot of reasons. Both of the other publishers had good things going for them. But Betsy Wollheim at DAW was really, really enthusiastic about my book. Geeky excited. Catgirl at an anime convention excited. You can’t buy that.
      Frequently, an author gets “orphaned” at a publisher. What this means is that an editor buys their book, then ends up getting fired, promoted, or transferred to a different job somewhere else. It sucks for the author because suddenly the person who liked your book enough to buy it isn’t around to help you edit and promote it.
      I knew that would never happen with DAW, because Betsy owns the company. She’s the President and CEO. She can’t leave. Furthermore, nobody can tell her, “No.” She’s the boss. I didn’t have to worry about getting my opinion slapped down by anyone but her.
      Also, everyone I talked to told me that DAW was incredibly faithful to their authors, supporting them in the long term and helping them build their careers. I wanted that.
      And I’ve been very happy with them. Every day I’m glad I went with them. The other publishers probably would have been great, and I liked the editors a lot. But things at DAW have been really idyllic.

Q: It sounds like things are falling into place nicely for you and DAW, as you mentioned earlier with the increased print run. How have you found your life has changed since entering into the publishing world? I imagine with your newfound fame it’s all champagne, private jets and nights of debauchery by now.

      Heh. You’d think that wouldn’t you?
      Truth is, my life is anything but rockstar. I have a mound of credit card debt, and I just had to sift through my change jar and pick out quarters so I could fill up my gas tank. I’m still living my familiar student lifestyle.
      You want to know how lean I live? A friend of mine just moved, and when she left town she gave me a box of ramen. I normally go for the Maruchen ramen. Chicken flavor. It costs about a dime a pack. That’s my staple. But this ramen was, like, super fancy. It had the usual a flavor packet and noodles, but it also had ANOTHER packet with some dried seaweed and little radish bits and stuff. It was seriously high class.
      That’s the level of my success and debauchery right now. A windfall box of ramen drastically improves my lifestyle. If this first book sells well, hopefully things will get a little better. I’ve even heard rumors of ramen with THREE little packets of stuff.
      But between you and me, I think that’s just faerie tale nonsense.

Q: So, with the second and third books in the Kingkiller Chronicles done, where do you go now? What do you have planned to come after the trilogy is published?

      When I created my world, I was careful to make it big enough to hold all sorts of stories, not just this one that centers around Kvothe. So I think it’s safe to say that will be more novels set in this world in the future, featuring some of the same characters.
      I’ve also had an idea for a modern-day faerie tale that I think would make a great stand-alone novel. The idea’s been running around in my head for years now, so it should be ripe by the time the trilogy is finished.
      And just a month or two ago, someone who dug up a copy of my anthology of satirical humor columns suggested to me that I could write humorous urban fantasy in a college setting. I think that would be fun, too.

Q: Sounds like you have a lot of good things in the pipeline! I notice you mention a stand-alone novel and I also seem to remember hearing that you originally wrote “The Name of the Wind” as a stand alone, before realizing how big it really was. What appeals to you about the stand-alone format?

      Stand alone books are nice because they have everything all in one tidy little package. Neverwhere was awesome because you get action, adventure, character development, the exploration of a strange world, PLUS resolution of all the problems and mysteries at the end. No lines no waiting. That’s very satisfying.
      Multi-volume stories are satisfying too, just in a different way.

Q: Well, Patrick, any final words before we wrap this thing up?

      In the interest of full disclosure, I feel the need to mention that I have said one untrue thing in this interview. Just one, though. Everything else is the truth.

Q: So, it’s safe to say you either are a rock star… or you do have a favourite Cher song?

      No. Those are both true. The lie I told is somewhere else….

Q: Well, I suppose I’ll have to leave it up to my readers to figure that one out. This also seems like the perfect place for a cliffhanger ending! So, with that I’d like to thank you and wish you luck with “The Name of the Wind” and everything that follows after it. If your first novel is any indication, we’ll be seeing a lot of you in the future!

      Thank you, Aidan. You are a gentleman and a scholar.

Check out the links below if you are interested in ordering The Name of the Wind
US | Canada | UK

Here it is! As promised A Dribble of Ink recently conducted an interview with this year’s “It” author, Patrick Rothfuss. By the time Pat and I concluded the interview we realized just how long things had became and decided that everyone would be better served if we split the interview into two shorter, more palatable chunks.

Patrick Rothfuss is one of Fantasy’s newest authors, but that has not stopped his first novel, The Name of the Wind from garnering a lot of favourable reviews and a whole beehive full of buzz. And, if you read my review you’d know that the buzz was well deserved. The Name of the Wind, the story of a young orphan named Kvothe, is an easy contendor for not only Fantasy Debut of the Year, but also for Fantasy Book of the year!

So, without further adieu, we have the first half of the interview!

The Interview

Q: Pat, let’s start this off with the really important stuff:

Q: Favourite Member of the Beatles?
     A: Lennon. He might have been crazy. But he’s my kind of crazy.
Q: Favourite Meal: Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner?
     A: Isn’t dinner the same thing as lunch? Are you trying to trick me with these?
Q: Favourite Cher song?
     A: I honestly can’t think of one. You say that name and my mind is immediately overwhelmed with the image of her strutting around on a battleship wearing a thong. Was that a video, or some deeply submerged nightmare? Boy, I hope it was a video….
Q: Favourite TV show you love to hate?
     A: I don’t actually have cable. I watch TV, but only shows that I buy on DVD. As a result my TV rage factor is pretty low right now.

I do have a real distaste for those extreme makeover shows. I once caught a roommate watching one and proceeded to rant for almost 15 solid minutes about how, in watching that bullshit, she was actively contributing to the destruction of all civilization.
Q: Favourite Ice Cream Flavour?
     A: Blue moon.
Q: Favourite Pizza Topping?
     A: Singularly – Pepperoni. In tandem – pineapple, bacon, sauerkraut, and olive. Trust me. It’s good. It’s like a tasty civil war right in your mouth.
Q: Favourite Book?
     A:The Last Unicorn. Read it. Live it. Love it.
Q: Favourite Winter Olympic Sport?
     A: Luge. I would be hard pressed to explain what the actual sport is. I just like the word Luge.

Luge.
Q: Favourite Fantasy-Book-Review-Blog-Run-by-a-Guy-Named-Aidan?
     A: Heh.

Q: Alright, now that we’ve got the must-ask questions out of the way we can move on to the more pedantic questions. “The Name of the Wind” is being hailed by many as the Fantasy Debut of the year. How do you keep yourself grounded while listening to accusations such as this?

     A: Hmmm. I’ll answer this question like I answer most questions. With a little story.

The day the book finally hit the shelves I got a call from my publisher telling me they’d decided to increase the print run. That’s awesome news, as more books means more sales. Ten minutes later, I got an e-mail from a reviewer. She told me that The Name of the Wind was the best book she’d read in years.

Next I drive onto campus, and what do I find? The perfect parking spot waiting for me right by the door to my building. Not only that, but I could see from my car that there were 40 minutes left on the meter.

It was like the universe was smiling on me. Right about then I was pretty sure that I was the sum of all creation. I was like Optimus Prime, the tenth avatar of Krishna, and Steve Tyler all rolled into one, great sticky gob of awesome.

Then I tried to parallel park. I pulled in… crooked. I pulled out and tried again… turned too sharp and my tire hit the curb. Again. And again. And again. I had to take five different runs at parallel parking before I got it right. Best of all, because it was right by the building my students and fellow teachers were walking by and watching while this was going on.

That’s how I keep my feet on the ground. It’s hard for me to take myself too seriously when I’m constantly experiencing firsthand what an incredible gimp I can be.

Q: There have been many other authors to begin their career with a lot of praise… only to wind up in the bargain bin down the road. How do you plan to avoid a similar fate?

     A: Through sheer force of will? By destroying all those who oppose me? I give up. Do you have and tips on how to avoid fate?

Seriously though. Now that I understand how publishing schedules work, I can understand why many authors have the sophomore slump. A year is a long time to wait for a sequel, but it’s a short, short time to WRITE a sequel.

Luckily for everyone concerned, I’ve already written my entire trilogy. So my books probably won’t start to suck until after those three are in print.

Q: The Name of the Wind is a big book, and I’m sure the two books comprising the rest of the trilogy are the same. It’s clear you spent a lot of time preparing the story and the novels before taking it out to publishers and agents. How would you say that having a large trilogy already finished affected your ability to get a publishing deal?

     A: Hmmm. Yes. But probably not in the way you’re thinking. It didn’t make me more appealing to publishers, if that’s what you’re asking.

While fantasy is generally pretty cool with big books in series, that doesn’t mean that publishers are excited about the thought of a 250,000 word novel. It costs a lot to print a book that big. Plus, who wants to buy a whole trilogy from an absolutely unknown author? Not a lot of people were excited about that.

Think of it this way. You’re a publisher, you buy a book from a newbie author and it doesn’t sell. Irritating and financially sucky. But if you buy three books…. you’ve kinda tripled your risk. It’s important to remember that Tad Williams, George Martin, and Robert Jordan didn’t start their careers writing the big fantasy series. They started with smaller stuff.

Q: Here’s a chance to both toot your own horn and bring yourself back down to earth a little. Where do you feel your strengths and weaknesses lie as a writer?

     A: That’s a hell of a question. If I talk about what I’m good at, I seem like I’m a conceited egomaniac. Then when I answer the other half it’s like I’m giving a negative review of my own book.

Can we just skip this question and assume I’m modest and my book is awesome?

If that isn’t the most perfect question to finish off the first part of the interview I don’t know what is! Check back in just a couple of days for the concluding half where Patrick will tell you just why his book is so awesome!

EDIT: Part Two of the interview can now be found HERE!

Check out the links below if you are interested in ordering The Name of the Wind
US | Canada | UK