A.J. Maguire

Tag: AJMaguire

  • Attack of the Secondary Character – Round Robin Discussion

    The beast roared again.

    It knew Relo was there.  It had known the moment he’d walked into the cave, its heightened sense of taste and smell had alerted the beast to this trespass.  But Relo had anticipated this.  In thirty-four years as a Tapped Acolyte he’d hunted every species Nellis had to offer.  He knew each weakness, each strength, and when Nellissian people were threatened, he had no qualms about exploiting such knowledge.  This, after all, was not a matter of fair play but a matter of survival.

    Me: Relo … huh … that’s an interesting name. Sounds kinda like “reload” which makes sense given the whole science fiction element, right?

    Cat: meow?

    Me: (Because I really am crazy enough to discuss these things with my pets) I know, I know. Relo … what? Relo Bomani? Sounds exotic and … you know … they’re on an alien planet and all … OK. So … the hero’s name is Relo Bomani.

    …. approximately 700 words later ….

    “I see I missed the action,” Seach said.  Most of his face was still in shadow but Relo knew the man was frowning.

    “It was a surprisingly fast battle.” Relo looked down at his thigh and tried to determine how bad the wound was.

    Seach walked to him, fixing the light on his wounded leg. “But not uneventful. Sit still.”

    “Actually, I think I cut myself on its tail when I tried to get out of the way.” Relo took the phosphorous light from Seach and angled it so his friend could work.

    Seach snorted his amusement as he crouched beside him, slipping the pack off his shoulder as he did so. “Serves you right for coming out here alone. I swear, sometimes I think you are trying to die.”

    Me: … huh … I like this Seach fellow.

    Cat: (just purrs cause by now he’s laying on my feet)

    … 3000 words later …

    Me: Ugh. I hate this book. I do not like the way it’s going. Relo is too … just too … strong. Not enough vulnerability in him. And he’s not funny.

    Cat: (lots of meowing cause he’s crazy enough to think I can understand him)

    Me: I know! Seach is so much more interesting. He makes me laugh. And he’s not afraid to fail. I totally love him.

    Cat: (stops meowing because I’m scratching under his chin and he’s in kitty heaven)

    Me: But you know, I’m not liking much of this plot either. Let’s change everything. We’ll make Seach the hero. Keep Jorry as the female lead. Relo can be the secondary.

    Cat: (suddenly bops me on the hand because he’s had enough attention for one day but he’s too lazy to move out of hands reach)

    … About a year later … 

    “You know Jorry won’t drink that,” said a familiar voice.

    Seach relaxed and glanced at Lieutenant Cavil as they continued through the D-Fac. Her black hair was shaved close and he could see little spirals of dark curls pressed up against her scalp. She grinned at him, her teeth bright white against the backdrop of her ebony skin. Cavil was beautiful in that hard way that military officers could be. It was like all the training and battle she had seen managed to sharpen her appeal and for half a second he forgot the danger they were in.

    “Lieutenant Cavil,” he said with a smile. In his peripheral view he saw Jo look up from her computer. “It’s been a while. Decided you were ready to tell me your first name?”

    “It’s been two years and eight months,” Cavil said and laughed. “I thought you would have lost interest by now.”

    “Lost interest in a beauty like you?” Seach clucked his tongue and winked at her. “Never.”

    … So … Have I ever had a secondary character steal a book from me?

    Yes. Very much so. I revamped all of Tapped to accommodate a new hero in Seach and I have never regretted it. He’s funny and vulnerable and he really made the story for me. He even counterbalances Jorry as the lead female character precisely because of those traits.

    Hop over to some of my fellow authors to see if they’ve ever dealt with a scene-stealing secondary character before!

    Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/
    Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com
    Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com
    A.J. Maguire https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
    Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
    Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
    Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.com/my_blog
    Victoria Chatham www.victoriachatham.webs.com
    Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
    Geeta Kakade http://geetakakade.blogspot.com/
    Rhobin Courtright http://rhobinleecourtright.com

  • Terraforming Mars

    Deviation, my newly released science fiction, lands smack dab on Mars.

    In spite of the massive amounts of research I had a lot of fun on Mars. Actually, scratch that.

    Because of the massive amounts of research I had to do, I had a lot of fun on Mars. Astronomy fascinates me. I think stars are cool and pictures of nebula are awesome and … yeah, I’m a nerd. So it’s only natural that my first science fiction novel actually features another planet.

    Mars is the planet we tend to like the most when it comes to the idea of relocating the human race. (Or at least branching out. Earth still needs our tender loving care.)

    planet-mars1There are many reasons for this but in the interest of this post I’m just going to direct you to HowStuffWorks.com because they already have an awesome article on the hows and the why’s of it. (Yay! Kevin Bonsor!)

    Now, I understand that I cheated a bit when it came to terraforming Mars in my book, but that all boils down to story. I wasn’t writing a guidebook to terraforming a planet, I was writing a story about redemption and grief and relationships.

    That said, I still wanted to make it believable.

    I also wanted to give the information without overwhelming readers with technical jargon. So I made a timeline with news articles. Readers will notice that there’s a snippet of a news article at the beginning of every chapter. That’s where I provided information both on what happened to the female race and how humanity reached Mars.

    First we bombed the core … cause Earth’s weird half-molten center is what gives us the tectonic plates, which is what gives us the magnetic field and atmosphere that keeps us … you know … alive and stuff. There’s probably a lot of things wrong with the theory of bombing the Martian core but the very concept made my creative brain go into hyper-drive, so I used it.

    Then, because things weren’t growing fast enough for us, we built a mirror-like greenhouse thing around Mars. (No, really, check out the HowStuffWorks.com article. It’s totally plausible.) Mars is further away from the sun so we needed to catch all that heat and redirect it to the planet’s surface.

    And then … and this is my favorite part … we “seed bombed” the planet’s surface.

    Yes, that’s right. Seed bombs. They are exactly what they sound like; bombs with seeds and fertilizer and all the good stuff plants need to get started.

    Add a little water, a little time, and a lot of luck and viola! Terraforming!

    Now then … scientists across the globe are likely to slaughter me for turning Mars purple and genetically altering animals to live on the planet. Those are all story elements. I rely heavily on the fact that I am not a scientist, I am a novelist. In those instances I would hope that people remember they are reading a work of fiction and focus instead on the characters rather than the mechanics.

    Deviation-510Honestly, I think we’ll live on Mars one day. It won’t be tomorrow, but some day.

  • Favorite Scenes — Deviation Edition

    Someone asked me what my favorite part of Sedition was the other day and I sort of stood there, struggling for an answer. I finally said that Trenna was my favorite part of the book, but she shook her head and asked for a specific scene and then proceeded to tell me hers.

    Which, let’s be honest, flattered me beyond all hope because Sedition has been out for several years now and she’s still gushing to me about it. (And berating me for not having Usurper in her hot little hands yet. I promise, it’ll be out next year.) It was a nice little ego-stroke and I’m trying hard not to let it get to my head.

    At the risk of spoiling the beginning of the novel I’m going to go ahead and say what my favorite scene of Sedition is. Well, it’s not much of a spoiler because it is so early in the book and it doesn’t give much away. My favorite scene is when Trenna gets knighted and tells Nelek he’s going to regret it.

    But I have loads of favorite scenes in all of my books. It’s why I keep writing, these scenes just keep cropping up. (I think that’s normal, actually. If I didn’t have a ton of favorite scenes then I wouldn’t be able to write the books.)

    Since Deviation and Dead Magic will be coming out this month I’ve decided to post snippets of my favorite scenes from both. We’ll start with Deviation today. I’m not going to give any setup for the scene because that might spoil the book, and I’m not going to explain why I love this scene so much because honestly … I’m not sure myself.

    Deviation:

    Reesa swallowed hard and forced herself to look him in the face.

    He had read the book.

    His blunt jaw was held tight, his lips pressed so hard that the edges went white with strain, and there was the tell-tale tick at the corner of his left eye.  God help her, she knew him well enough to know that her life was in danger.  Flawed characters made the best characters, so she’d made Hedric a mess of reckless behavior.  He was an unstable, quixotic, volatile, walking bringer of death.  Mesa had been his saving grace, a counterbalance, and now she was gone.

    For long minutes he just stood there, probably hoping she would fall over dead with the way he was looking at her.  Misery and torment contorted the long, jackal-like features she’d made him famous for.  She needed to do something, explain herself, apologize, anything to ease him before he struck her.

    When he finally spoke, hoarse and low, she felt fear like a rod of lightening in her spine. “You did this,” he said.

    Because she didn’t know what to say, Reesa lifted her chin and fought for a brave glare.

    “How could you?” he asked.  When she still didn’t respond he closed the gap between them, slamming a fist into the wall behind her with enough force to make it dent. “How could you?” he shouted again.

    “It was a book! Fiction!”

    Hedric gripped her tank-top and lifted until she lost footing, levering her body against the wall and bringing his face inches from her own. “Does this feel like fiction to you?”

    ***

    And … I’ll stop you right there, because I’m cheeky like that. When the book comes out you’ll get to see where in the story that scene is.

     

     

  • About Dead Magic

    That’s right … I have TWO books coming out next month. I’m not even sure what order they’ll be in. I do know I wrote Deviation first, which probably means Dead Magic will come out first … just cause that’s how things go most of the time.

    Dead Magic is the sequel to Witch-Born. That’s my steampunky fantasy thing about … you guessed it … witches.

    Well, not the sorts of witches you and I might be accustomed to. When I set out to write the book I was tired of the stereotypes witches tend to be sequestered to. You know; old, warty, pointed hats, eating children. I was even tired of the beautiful and misunderstood witch constantly having to hide who they were to avoid burning at the stake.

    So! I made my witches nobility. Not only were they revered as the upper echelon of society, their magic had a purpose — sustaining the wards that kept the people safe.

    Witch-Born was a joy to write. I wrote it for the 2008 National Novel Writing Contest and, funnily enough, it was the first year I won. (Brief shout-out, if you don’t know about NaNoWriMo then please, please click through. Go see what they’re about. Because they’re awesome.)

    I had no intentions of making a sequel to Witch-Born, really I didn’t. Until one day I was fiddling with an old pocket watch and it broken in my hands. I know that seems like an odd reason to start a sequel but … hey, I’m a writer. I can’t explain why inspiration hits when it does. All I know is that I was staring at the little cog-work bits in my hands and Lord Winslow Agoston’s plight against the Wild began telling itself in my head.

    As far as sequels go, Dead Magic was supremely difficult to write. I knew that I wanted it to conclude the story I began in Witch-Born, I didn’t want it to be a massive series like Sedition and Tapped are turning out to be. I wanted a pair of books that fit neatly together, but I also wanted to tell a fresh story.

    So, while Dorian and Elsie have a major part to play in Dead Magic, this is mostly Winslow and Valeda’s story. Fans of Witch-Born will recognize Winslow’s name, but Valeda is a new creature entirely. She’s a newspaper woman hunting down the story of Magic’s disappearance. I fell in love with her from the first scene I wrote and I hope readers will feel the same way. She’s spunky and strong without being one of those overt-fighter-women that … ahem … I tend to write a lot of.

    I learned a lot of things while writing Dead Magic but perhaps the most important aspect was the issue of time. Magnellum (the world in which Dead Magic and Witch-Born takes place) has changed in years between each book. There are new buildings and new people and new conflicts brewing throughout. Focusing on how Magnellum had changed helped me immensely as I was writing, but focusing on how those changes affected each character helped the world come to life.

  • About Deviation

    Every writer has to ask themselves the question of what makes their book different from everyone else’s work. What makes their style stand out, or why should anyone get interested in the book they’ve written.

    Bear in mind that I do not mean the internal critic that is always saying the work isn’t good enough. Every writer has this irritating voice in their head saying that their work is crap and needs to be burned in the nearest available metal container.

    No, what I mean is the honest, professional question; What makes this story different?

    Well, for Deviation I’m going to have to say the characters.

    We have time travel and space travel and terraformed Mars and big beasties trying to eat people, but the core of this story is about two women. (That in and of itself might be different from the typical science fiction novels out there since much of science fiction seems to revolve around men and their exploits across galaxies. Or at least, that’s the science fiction I have encountered. I would be happy and excited if someone could point me to some stories that hedge outside of this stereotype.)

    So what makes Reesa and Kate different from other science fiction heroines?

    Well, they’re both kind of anti-heroes. Reesa is a novelist on the brink of a nervous breakdown and Kate is mother desperately trying to get home to her son. Neither wanted adventure, nor were they prepared for it, and yet they find themselves ripped out of time and space into a dramatically different world.

    But if we’re completely honest then we can see that most books have anti-hero’s in them; people who did not go out seeking whatever trouble they happen to be in, but are dealing with it just the same. (That’s using a very loose definition of the word “anti-hero” and I know it, but you get what I mean.)

    Still, even with character tropes and stereotypes I think it’s the characters on the page that make every story different. I hope that’s what sets Deviation apart in readers minds. There’s plot-stuff like the male versus female war going on, genocide, business morals conflicting with humanity, and the bottomless pit of grief in the book, but when push comes to shove it’s all about two women trying to get home.

    So for any writers out there I would ask you the same question; What makes your story different? Are you concentrating on that aspect of the book? If not, I think you might be missing the whole point of writing it in the first place.

  • Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Take 1

    My first official Science Fiction will be released next month through Double Dragon Publishing. (That’s Deviation, for those of you just joining us.) Also, the sequel to Witch-Born will be released next month as well through the same publisher. (That’s Dead Magic.)

    One science fiction, one fantasy. (Yes, I count Dead Magic as fantasy even though it has steampunk tendencies in it. I mean, it deals with witches and magic, it just makes sense.)

    It’s interesting to me to see the differences between Science Fiction and Fantasy. I know that you can find both right next to each other in the bookstore. They’re categorized as Speculative Fiction and in some cases you can find them all on the same shelf/shelves.

    But they are very, very different to write.

    That’s probably obvious since they’re also very different when you’re reading them. Still, there are unique challenges in both genres when you’re writing. For example, you have a little more leeway in Fantasy. Everything still has to make sense, you can’t just explain everything away through magic. Magic itself should have rules and everything in your fantasy world reacts to those rules.

    However, the cultures, lands, people and other aspects of a fantasy world are primarily yours to decide. You just have to stick to your set of rules.

    With Science Fiction — or at least the science fiction I found myself writing — there are already rules and parameters that you have to stick to. Such as our planetary system. I only visit one other planet, Mars, but trust me … the research involved in knowing that planet well enough to put people on it was astronomical.  (You can kill me for the pun later.)

    Mars is a real place. It has terrain. It has features. (It has Mount Olympus. Seriously. Look it up. It’s this volcano that just kept erupting and grew to a major height. I totally swiped it for the book.) But because Mars is a real place all those features, all that terrain, had to be taken into account. I did terraform the planet to sustain life in the book, which altered the terrain a bit (aka — gave it plant life) but the mountains and the ridges and the canyons are all still there.

    This isn’t to say that you can be lax in Fantasy. If you build a world and put The Lonely Mountain on one section of the map, you certainly cannot go relocating that mountain halfway through the book.

    It’s more like this; in Fantasy you’re creating everything. In Science Fiction you’re finding ways to break or otherwise mold what already exists.

     

  • Insult to Injury

    I graduated last month with honors.

    Family gathered. I walked the stage (even though I felt a trifle out of place since I’d conducted all of my schooling online).  And then I took the rest of May off from writing and responsibility. There was much Game of Thrones to catch up with (still working on that) and many nights of actual cooking (yes, cooking, and I didn’t burn the apartment down).

    I knew when June started that I was going to have to hit the grind hard to catch up on writing deadlines and what have you, but I felt I deserved the break. And then … last week … I decided to knife myself in the palm while wrestling with an avocado.

    Yes, you read that right. Me and an avocado had a bout and I lost.

    Yes, I know the proper way to get the core out of an avocado. (And if I didn’t before, I certainly do now thanks to family and friends sending me instructional video links.) But for one reason or another I didn’t do it the proper way this time. I was in a hurry or something.

    The knife slipped off the core and stabbed right into my palm. It hit the bones. I know because I felt it.

    Yes, you really do feel that when it happens. Writers take note: it’s a funny reverberating sensation, like hitting a long steel bar and feeling the shock rumble through it.

    I drove myself to the ER — because that’s just me — and they gave me fun medicine and serious instructions on how to care for it. (Along with several more suggestions on the appropriate means of coring an avocado.)

    However, I cannot feel two fingers in my left hand. This makes typing a bit of a bear. (Not to mention the wound is still healing so there’s that lovely pain on top of things.) With my publication schedule this year, and the writing schedule I had divvied out for myself way back in December, I find myself behind.

    I mean, really, really behind.

    It’s insult to injury.

    Not only am I in pain, my pride is taking a beating thanks to my new-content deadlines being missed.

    And all because I was in a hurry with an avocado.

    Take it from me … it’s worth the time to do it right. If you must, use a spoon. Those avocado’s will get you.

  • I did a Guest Post!

    The totally amazing C.J. Brightly hosted me on her blog this week!

    If you are thinking about writing a sequel or are currently writing one, have a peek at some of the things I’ve learned about how to do them without going completely insane.

    CLICK ME for the LINK.

     

  • Usurper Update

    A lot of people have been asking me about Usurper lately. Which, let’s be honest, makes me happy since it means everyone really, really likes Trenna’s stories and wants to see what happens next.

    So! For this week’s post I’m going to go ahead and give an update on where I am and … because everyone has been so very patient … I’ll include a snippet at the end.

    I am right at the end of Usurper. And I do mean right at the end.

    All the pieces are in place. All the characters have made it to their destinations and are gearing up for the final battle. All I need to do now is finish that final battle. But battle scenes take the longest for me to write.

    They’re also my favorite bits to write, but they still take the longest because it’s hard to bring clarity in the middle of swords clashing, people screaming, and wounds being inflicted. Every character has a different set of motivations that become all the clearer amidst bloodshed — remember the end of Sedition?

    I will have Usurper’s draft completed by the end of April. It will go in to my publisher/editor people on May 1st. After that, we’ll be waiting on the publisher and all that jazz, but this publisher tends to be very quick about getting things done so … Yes, you will (should, most probably) have Usurper in your hot little hands before 2015.

    But I should warn you … there’s a lot of action in this one. Trenna’s back at her prime and getting her hands dirty.

    Well … see for yourself … (Please remember, this has not been edited yet. Any and all grammatical errors are the hazards of the craft.)

    She spotted the assassin first. Sitting at the table nearest to the hearth, Faxon Mylonas was profile to her, looking almost exactly as he had twenty-odd years prior. Trenna felt real fear curl in her gut at the sight of her son and husband sitting near the man, but her anger overtook that emotion when she spotted Troy. Trapped between the assassin and a woman whose occupation could only be that of a Blood Mage, Troy’s eyes were puffed and swelling and he was holding a bloodied handkerchief to his face.

    Liana was moving before Trenna could stop the girl. She saw Faxon tense and knew he was preparing for Liana’s advance.

    “Big T, thank gods,” Barmy stood from his stool. “I tried to warn them …”

    “Thank you, Mister Friggs. May I borrow your stool?”

    “My stool?” Barmy’s face creased in puzzlement.

    Liana drew her cutlass, which sent a hiss of alarm through the already tensed room.

    “Well, yes, I suppose …” Barmy stopped when he spotted Liana’s advance, gasping with further horror.

    “Thank you.” Trenna grabbed the stool and started forward. She waited until Faxon stood, until he had his full focus on intercepting Liana, before she flung the chair over her shoulder with all her might.

    It struck the Blood Mage on the side of her head, startling everyone at the table. Trenna took her advantage and rushed forward. The red-headed Mage fell against the table, dazed enough that she wasn’t prepared for Trenna’s second assault. She got to the table before the mage could find her wits, grabbed a fistful of spiky red hair and slammed the woman’s head into the hard, pitted surface.

    With the flick of her wrist, Trenna snagged the dagger from her belt loop and held it to the unconscious woman’s throat in clear warning.

    Faxon didn’t move. Whatever attack he’d planned against Liana had ceased and his wild, golden eyes fastened on Trenna. Nelek, Kaden and Troy had moved during the attack. Nelek stood with the boys flanking him, not entirely out of harm’s way, but at least they’d have a sporting chance now. Liana’s advance had been stalled as well. Trenna saw her slide toward Troy.

    “Hello, Trenna.” Faxon still didn’t move. “Nice to see you haven’t lost your civilized touch.”

    (And to answer … yes, I mean the Faxon you met in Sedition.)

  • Villains – Round Robin

    Honestly, villains are hard for me to write.

    They were always hard for me to play when I was a kid, too. My brother and I would have our G.I. Joe’s out and stuff and he would be all for the bad guy coming in and causing mayhem and I would be more for the “natural disaster” sort of plot because I didn’t like seeing character’s die.

    (Ironic, I know, since I kill so many characters in my fiction.)

    Marsali from Sedition was my first antagonist, the first time I’d ever delved into the mindset of someone who was clearly ruthless. The only way I managed to write her was to focus on why she was willing to be ruthless, and in her case it was the fact that she quite literally believed her home was in danger.

    Reonne from Witch-Born had a huge back-story that never fully made it into the books. For her, she’d been passed over one too many times and she was bitter because of it. She had a false sense of entitlement that took her to dark places.

    And now that I look at it, I see a clear pattern. Both women were powerful, refined, educated, capable and ambitious. I like those kinds of villains. I like the villain who knows precisely who they are, who can use good manners to cover their malice, and who are intelligent.

    That’s the kind of villain I like to write, read, and watch on the screen.

    Saboteur didn’t have one of these. Saboteur’s main villain was prejudice and ignorance and I personified those two inside Brodis Windringham. And I’ll admit … that was tough.

    For me as a person I see nothing more dangerous in this world than ignorance and prejudice. History has shown us that together they are deadly. It drives people to do terrible things.

    But I think the most fun I’ve had with an antagonist was with my up-and-coming Deviation. In that book the hero becomes the villain and the villain becomes the hero, and I totally did that on purpose. The idea was to show that even hero’s have a breaking point, and we watch as Hedric Prosser is run down until he literally has nothing left. Rather than finding that spark that makes a hero push on, Hedric goes dark.

    And the arrogant, refined, powerful Matthew Borden (See what I mean about the pattern?) is given a chance to become something other than the antagonist. I’m not going to tell you how, you have to read it when it comes out. (In August.)

    Anyway! That’s my very personal take on villains. The more refined the better, because intelligence is a scary opponent.

    Round Robin Continues! Check out what some of my fellow author’s have to say about their villains and what they look for.

    Anne Graham writing as Anne Stenhouse at http://wp.me/31Isq
    A.J. Maguire at https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (You are Here)
    Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/
    Diane Bator at http://dbator.blogspot.ca
    Fiona McGier at http://www.fionamcgier.com
    Ginger Simpson at http://mizging.blogspot.com
    Geeta Kakade at http://geetakakade.blogspot.com/
    Connie Vines at http://connievines.blogspot.com/
    Beverley Bateman – http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
    Rhobin Courtright – http://rhobinleecourtright.com