The Road of Trials

Artist: Igor Morski 

Inspired by Helen Lowe and her Hero Series, today I'm writing about this wonderful journey we writers take when bringing a new book to life.

Joseph Campbell in his Hero of a Thousand Faces talks about how we are all on the hero's journey and knowing which stage we are in can be amazing support when things get challenging.

And holy moly, they do get challenging! 

Vi Vi Arcane 

I've discussed the stages of this mythic journey for writers, and though everyone has their own experiences, I think many will relate. (If you want to check out a full depiction of my first publishing journey, you can find it here - Writing and the Hero's Journey)

My most recent book has been a similar path, especially on the last Road of Trials. I wasn't sure I (or my book) would survive.

I'm talking about the Editing Process.

This is where the writer encounters a series of tests, tasks and ordeals in the form of editorial notes. If it's their first time, they walk in blind, like the Fool, because they thought once their manuscript was ‘completed’, all the hard work was done. 

Ha!

It has only just begun.

Example of COS Copyedits 

Depending on the publisher, the process can include many rounds of editing by different people - structural, line, copy and proofreading. All this happens under the looming 'hard deadline'. (They don't call it DEADline for nothing - it's do or die!)

Example of COS Proofreader Notes

To top it off, my editors for Curse of Shadows were all in different timezones. That meant, in the final days before the deadline, I caught quick naps between midnight and 2am. That was it...

But the results, I believe, are spectacular and I'm happy to announce that Curse of Shadows made it to the printers on time! 

Which puts me up on Cloud 9. Seriously, my feet have yet to touch the ground (see Refusal to Return after the Ultimate Boon.)

Out December 6, 2022

But return I must because the process starts all over again with the next book in the series.

Just not today. Not yet.

For now, I will continue to sup with the gods.

If you've yet to read Crown of Bones, it's on special now -- Kindle $2.80

Crown of Bones Special $2.80 on Kindle

And, if any of you are interested in an ARC - advanced reader copy - of Curse of Shadows, please email me with ARC for Curse of Shadows in the subject bar. Thanks!

And happy journeys.

xxkim

***

Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has just released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows coming out December 6, 2022.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site 

Saving the Day

Super Girl Returns by Jungwon Park

Hi Everyone,


Happy New Moon!

If you want to check your scopes for this month, jump on Facy and find your sign. (I've been a bit under the weather this week so popping them there was my easy option.)

For my writerly friends, from published authors to emerging newbies, I 'm posting a couple of quick tuts.

The theme is saving the day, in two very distinct ways.

Number one is literally about saving your work in a way that not only insures against lost files, it give you the freedom to edit at will.

I learned this technique from a film animator and I swear by it now!

Save the Day - Part 1 

 

Number two delves into plot and character, what it takes to write narrative with stakes.

Whether your hero saves the day or fails, there is one thing your writing must have - stakes! This short tutorial talks about what stakes are, where they come from and how they fit into the storytelling.

Quick references to great resources including Donald Maass, Joseph Campbell and Blake Snyder. Clear and concise, what it takes to raise your stakes.

Save the Day - Part 2 

 

I'd love to know how many of you 1) save your work in this way and 2) have favorite books or films where the stake drag you to the edge of your seat.

Feel free to share in the comments.

Happy New Moon, everyone!

xxxKim

Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing paranormal romance, urban fantasy, YA and epic science fantasy novels.

You can find out more about Kim at the 11th House Blog, and on FaceBook and Twitter.

She posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month.

Her latest release is "Blood and Water" in Supernatural Underground: Vampires Gone Wild. 

The Masquerade of Fiction

Zorro the Mask

Name your favorite masked character and win a free kindle book.

The winner is - Diane Scicluna! Please send me your email address  (to enchantmentATkimfalconerDOTcom) and I'll send you your copy of Tatsania's gift, or Vampires Gone Wild, if you prefer. Congratulations! 

Since the beginning of time, masks have had a powerful influence on human evolution. From preliterate societies to the ancient Greeks and on to present times, the mask represents a part of our multiplicity, the many ‘selves’ that reside within.

Greek Masks of Comedy and Tragedy

In the Greek amphitheater, masks were performance props that helped bring out a ‘persona,’ a word that originally meant ‘to sound through’. The mask actually amplified the voice of the actor on stage, a wonderful metaphor for the expression of character.

Joseph Campbell explores this deeply in The Masks of God, delving into philosophical views of supreme beings in preliterate, Eastern, and Western cultures. He shows how, through story and ritual, we meet the divine, and sometimes demonic (dynamic), within - via our masks.

Batman the Game

In modern times, the mask (metaphorical or real) can be a way of allowing a particular aspect of our personality its day in the sun. We put on the mask and become something  else, something more than . . .
  
This ‘primitive’ practice of donning a mask to express a repressed aspect of the Self is common. We do it all the time when we:

Put on our happy face.

Find our serious look.

Give others our kick-ass stare.

Go all gooey or seductive . . .

Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask

We still use masks in fiction to embellish (hide, punish, trick, curse, bless, amplify) a character. It may seem like the mask makes them more archetypal, as in the evil of Darth Vader, the trickster Stanley Ipkiss in The Mask, or Batman and Zorro’s dark hero, but the story always reveals its deeper meaning when the characters finally take off the mask. Then we see what lies beneath.


William Butler Yeats suggests we sometimes prefer the masks stay on!


The Mask

"PUT off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes."
"O no, my dear, you make so bold
To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold."
"I would but find what's there to find,
Love or deceit."
"It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what's behind."
"But lest you are my enemy,
I must enquire.”
"O no, my dear, let all that be;
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me?"

What’s your favorite mask in film or literature? Lord Vader? Scream? Dread Pirate Roberts? Zorro? Predator? Stanley Ipkiss? Stanley Ipkiss’s dog? I’d love to hear.

Name your favorite, most scary/awesome/sexy mask in the comments and receive a Kindle copy of Tatsania’s Gift, a YA dystopia novella, lead in to the Quantum Encryption series.

Kim Falconer is a Supernatural Underground author writing paranormal romance, urban fantasy, YA and epic science fantasy novels.

You can find out more about Kim at kimfalconer.com or on the 11th House Blog, and on FaceBook and Twitter. She posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month. Her latest release is"Blood and Water" in Supernatural Underground: Vampires Gone Wild.