LTUE--Saturday

I’ve been meaning to blog about day two at Life, The Universe, and Everything (LTUE), a writers symposium on science fiction and fantasy at BYU. It was such an amazing day.

I arrived at 10:00 AM and was on a panel with some amazing writers. The panel was titled, The Problem of Sequels—how can you write a sequel that is as good as—or better than—your first book?

The panelists were: me—Paul Genesse, James Dashner—writer of the Jimmy Fincher books, David Farland—writer of the Rune Lords books, Mette Ivie Harrison—author of many fairy tale inspired books, L.E. Modesitt author of 50 or so books, and Brandon Sanderson—author of the upcoming Wheel of Time book or books. He’s at 750,000 words now and said he might go to a million words. Wow. I’m thinking two books, or three, released quickly.

It was an excellent discussion and Brandon was a great moderator. We went through the various ways to create sequels and I thought it was an excellent discussion. The large audience, several hundred people, was pretty into the topic and had some good questions. I just finished writing a sequel, The Dragon Hunters, Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series, coming out in May of 2009, and am currently writing book three, The Secret Empire.

So, I feel like I’ve thought through the many problems of writing sequels. I write for the characters and my books are character driven, though the plot is very important as well. A lot happens and my advice was to keep raising the stakes, make things accelerate and become even more dangerous as the books go along. Also, the characters must appear to get further and further away from accomplishing their goals, as you torture and torment them mercilessly. I also chose to add two characters to the mix in book two, which kept it fresh. I go from three main characters to five in book two. The question about what information to repeat in the subsequent books is always a question. Do you rehash what happened in the previous book or just plow ahead without mentioning the last book? I think you should mention a little, but not excessively. Try your best to avoid big info dumps. Mention the old info only when absolutely necessary and be brief.

Okay, at 11:00 AM, the guest of honor, Tracy Hickman, gave the main address at LTUE. It was spectacular and was titled, “Creative Reading.”

It was the best main address I’ve seen in a long time. He brought the crowd to tears with a true story about a fan he had met at a book signing on a military base. The young man was now paralyzed from the waist down after taking a bullet in Afghanistan. After the soldier was shot, his first thought was: what would Sturm do? Sturm was a character in the fist Dragonlance books. He was a knight of great honor and courage. His death inspired greatness from many others.

So, this soldier gave Tracy and Margaret Weiss a horribly tattered compilation of the first three Dragonlance books to sign. The soldier said it (the book) had been in combat, jumped out of planes and had been on the soldier everywhere he went for years. The book was with him when he was shot in Afghanistan while on point during a patrol. When he hit the ground after being shot, his first thought was: what would Sturm do? The soldier saw enemies assembling a mortar that would kill or injure his entire squad who was unaware of the danger. The soldier’s second thought was, “I hope my luck is better than Sturm’s.”

The soldier then said that he got up and warned his squad about the mortar. He saved their lives. Then the soldier said that it was Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss who actually saved the lives of the squad. The soldier gave his purple heart medal and his bronze star medal to Margaret and Tracy, saying it was them who deserved the honor, not him.

The power of words can definitely save lives. The true measure of the words is often in the white space between the lines—that was Tracy Hickman’s main point. What is not said in the text is imagined by the reader. This is where the true power lies.

I retold the story at work during a night shift a day later to some of my good friends, and it moved me to tears again. I’m so glad I heard the speech and I’m so happy that my boyhood hero, Tracy Hickman now lives five minutes away from my house. He invited me to get together with him at some point and I can’t wait. Tracy is also very funny and had us all laughing out loud.

All right, I had lunch after that with some good friends, author Rebecca Shelley, her sister Laura Ann—a very cool lady, and JoSelle Vanderhooft, an amazing poet and writer. We had a great time.

Then there was a book signing where I picked up Blood Lite, an anthology featuring a story by my friend Eric James Stone, Rebecca Shelley’s new book—The Brass Dragon Codex, and a book by Greg Park called Veil of Darkness, Book One of the Earthsoul Prophecies. I’m looking forward to reading them all. I also ran into Brandon Sanderson, who offered to read my new novel, The Dragon Hunters. I hope he likes it!

I also met a cool artist named B.C. Hailes and just read his Dragon’s Gait graphic novel. Wow, what amazing art. I want to hire him to do a map for me. He’s really, really good and lives in the Salt Lake area.

At 3:00 PM I was on a panel with the heavy hitters. Everyone at the convention appeared to be present. The panel was called How Novelists Fill 100,000 Words and Still Keep the Story Interesting. On the panel were: New York Times Bestselling authors who have had their books translated into many different languages: Tracy Hickman, David Farland (also known as Dave Wolverton), Brandon Sanderson, USA Today Bestselling author L.E. Modesitt, and me—not a NYT Bestselling author. Wow. A little intimidating, but great. There were hundreds of people in the audience and it went really well, despite the broad nature of the topic. Brandon Sanderson did a great job moderating and I felt really good about how the panel turned out. The Golden Cord managed to be the bestselling fantasy book that my publisher has ever had, but the NYT list is something I’d of course like to crack into someday when I sign with a bigger publisher.

At 5:00 PM I was on another panel, Collaborating with Another Writer. The panelists were Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury—a good editor and writer, Tracy and Laura Hickman, and Dan Willis a really good Dragonlance writer. This was a really fun panel and most illuminating. I collaborate with my good friends Patrick Tracy and Brad Beaulieu on everything I do. They help me immensely when I’m making the story or novel better. They have great ideas and without them, my work would not be nearly as nasty. I just love collaborating with other writers and find that two or three brains really are better than one. Brainstorming with friends who are creative thinkers is very powerful.

Later that night I did a reading of the prologue of The Golden Cord. It was actually the best reading I’ve done of the prologue. I did the voices and it came out great.

Then it was off to dinner with 17 people. The famous artist, Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary fame shepherded us to Bangkok Grill, a wonderful Thai restaurant in Orem. We had a great time and I loved the food.

It was a wonderful weekend and so much happened. I was asked by the chair of programming, Charlie Harmon, to be the ambassador for the bid committee trying to get the World Fantasy Convention to come to Salt Lake City. I accepted and can’t wait to help out. Charlie also offered to host a book release party for me at the ConDuit convention in May at the Radisson Hotel downtown. The book release party will be Saturday, May 23 in the afternoon. More details to come soon.

I just love LTUE weekend and thanks for reading.


Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
Releasing May of 2009 from Five Star Books
www.paulgenesse.com

The Golden Cord wins two awards

Hello,


I found out tonight that The Golden Cord won two awards from an influential blog reviewer, Shaun Duke. It won Best Cover and I won the Kudos award, which was very cool.

Check out all the awards here: http://wisb.blogspot.com/2009/01/2008-wisb-awards.html

Thank you all for your support.


Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
Releases May 2009

LTUE--Friday

Hello,


I had a great day at Life, The Universe, and Everything ( www.ltue.org ) a writing symposium held at BYU. I got to chat with some old friends, met some new friends, and got to be the moderator of a panel about writing dialog. JoSelle Vanderhooft couldn't make it, so on the panel with me, were Roger White, a new friend, and two of my childhood heroes: Tracy and Laura Hickman (husband and wife). Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss wrote the first Dragonlance books, which had a great impact on me. Laura has been part of the creative process for many years and has authored several books with Tracy. I've met them before at Gen Con, but this was the first time I've ever been on a panel with them and got to hang out in the Green Room.

It went so well and I think we all learned some good things about writing dialog. Tomorrow I'm on a bunch more panels and am really looking forward to it.

Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
Releases May 2009

Life, The Universe, and Everything

.

LTUE is the best gathering of science fiction and fantasy writers in Utah. Attendance is free and lots of great writers attend. It's held at BYU and is sponsored by the university. I went last year for the first time and loved it. I'm going to be on a few panels this year, and will be sitting at my table handing out free stuff and signing books.

Paul's Schedule

Friday February 20:
Arrive around 12:30, set up my table. I'm on only one panel on Friday, but it's with one of my influences, Tracy Hickman, and my friend, the amazing poet, JoSelle Vanderhooft
4:00 PM Friday:
*Dialog tags and speech patterns: when how your characters speak is as important as what they have to say
(Paul Genesse, JoSelle Vanderhooft, Tracy and Laura Hickman, Roger White)

Saturday, February 21
Arrive around 9:00, set up my table

10:00 AM:
*The problem of sequels. How can you write a sequel that is as good, or better, than your first book?
(James Dashner, Paul Genesse, Mette Ivie Harrison, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Brandon Sanderson, Laura Hickman, Dave Wolverton)

3:00 PM:
*How novelists fill 100,000 words. And still keep[ the story interesting.
(Paul Genesse, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Brandon Sanderson, Dave Wolverton, Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman)

5:00 PM:
*Collaborating with another writer. Sometimes it cam be as easy as “I do the background and you do the fighting.” Sometimes you need to work at collaboration.
(Paul Genesse, Dan Willis, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman)

*Reading: (1/2 hour each): Paul Genesse, Anna del C Dye (I'm thinking I'm going to read from book two, The Dragon Hunters)
I'm going to give out a free book! I hope to see you there. We'll probably go out to dinner afterward and anyone is welcome.

Madame Butterfly, The Ballet

Madame Butterfly, The Ballet


On Valentine’s Day I took my wife to see Madame Butterfly, a ballet adapted from the original opera by Puccini (1904). The ballet was created by Stanton Welch in 1995 and is now being done by Salt Lake City’s amazing company, Ballet West. You can see it from February 13-21 at the Capitol Theater. If you are in the area, you must go and see this show. Check out Arttix,http://www.arttix.org/ for seats.

Okay, the performance was stunning. The sets, the costumes, the music, and above all, the dancing . . . were fabulous. I loved the orchestra. The music, by Colin McPhee, gave me goose-bumps several times and was easily some of the best orchestra music I’ve ever heard. I could go on and on. The ballet was just so captivating. The story itself, tragic and beautiful, is one for the ages.

It was very inspiring and made my brain go wild with ideas for book three, which I need to work on now. But I digress . . .

So, the geisha, Cio-Cio San, known as Madame Butterfly, marries the American sailor, Pinkerton and begins the story that I believe will be performed as a ballet for the next 100 years or more.

Tammy was touched at the end and we had a really good time. Here’s a link to the pics. http://gallery.me.com/paulgenesse#100148

Art inspires me. All kinds. Music, dance, movies, paintings, and yes, books.

Now, I need to get writing.


Paul Genesse, Editor of the Writers' Symposium Ezine
Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
Releasing in May 2009
www.paulgenesse.com

Review of Catopolis

Catopolis by Janet Deaver-Pack

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I just read an anthology that I have a story in. It came out in December of 2008. The anthology is called CATOPOLIS. Yes, it’s 19 stories about the secret world of cats who mostly live in a really big city. These are the kind of stories where the cats talk to each other and discuss how they are actually the ones in charge. Sound familiar?



I wasn’t sure what to write at first, then I decided to write KITTY AND THE CITY, which is a parody of the TV show SEX AND THE CITY, except the four main characters are cats. “Cassie” is a kitty with really bad luck in relationships and she can’t seem to find a good tom. Mr. Big Paws was supposed to be the one . . .



It was a lot of fun to write and I think the story came out really well. My editor, Janet Deaver-Pack did a good job putting together some fun tails (grin). Here’s a quick review of some of my favorite ones in the anthology.





GUT FEELING by Esther M. Friesner is a hilarious story about a cat that predicts the future and must defeat a thug trying to take over the city. I laughed out loud several times while reading this story. Easily the funniest story in the bunch.



BLACK by Richard Lee Byers was a fun adventure story with a black cat who is a type of wizard who can call upon the aspects of the great cats to fight his enemies. It was a cool adventure story, very entertaining.



INK AND NEWSPRINT by Marc Tassin made me get misty-eyed at the end. It was such a well-written story about an extremely endearing character, an old news-stand cat named Sophocles faced with the end of newspapers. Every story I’ve read by Marc Tassin has really captivated me and I can’t wait to read more stories by him.



BURNING BRIGHT by Elaine Cunningham was a stand-out story in the collection and Elaine’s skill as a writer is obvious from beginning to end of the tale. I really loved the voice of her main character, a Serval cat named Mhari. It was a pleasure to find this tale, which appears toward the end of the book.



EYE WITNESS by Don Bingle was silly and crazy—a story about cats learning about the most hidden mysteries of the world. I would love to hear the author read this one out loud. I think I might wet myself laughing.



MENTOR OF THE PATALA by Bruce A. Heard was written in a voice that is quite unique to the book. It made me sit up straight and pay close attention.



AFTER TONY’S FALL by Jean Rabe: too much pasta makes this cat burglars job quite difficult. Very funny premise.



THE SCENT OF DEATH by Elizabeth A. Vaughan is one of the best stories in the anthology. It is a tale taken from the headlines and made real. Some cats have noses for food, this one can smell death. You may remember it from the headlines, and here you get the inside scoop from the cat’s point of view.



THE PERSIAN, THE COON, AND BULLETS by Matthew Woodring Stover was one of the best written stories in the anthology. Gripping and fascinating throughout. The setting of the story makes you think about world events in a whole different light. I highly recommend this satirical story written by a great writer.



FATHER MAIMS BEST by Ed Greenwood was one of the most imaginative of all the stories. It tells the tale of a cat and human team of ghost investigators. Everyone knows that cats can see ghosts. The whole thing goes in a direction I didn’t see coming and I really enjoyed the writing style.



Cat lovers definitely need to check this anthology out.








View all my reviews.

Ill Wind

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've been wanting to read Ill Wind for a while, after reading a teaser chapter a long time ago. Finally, I got it off the shelf and read it over the span of three days. I really enjoyed the book. The voice of the main character was really fun. Jo is a Weather Warden, basically a wizard of sorts, who manipulates the weather, making sure it doesn't get out of hand. She belongs to an organization with other Wardens who keep Mother Nature from killing lots of people and destroying property all over the world. It was quite fascinating.



Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don't and Jo is one of the up and coming Wardens, with major amounts of raw power--too much power for her own good. She ends up in some very serious trouble in the beginning of the book and spends the rest of the novel trying to find a way out. I loved how the author, Rachel Caine (a pseudonym used by a very prolific author who has had many names over the years), brought in the mythology of genies, (Djinn), and used them in a modern setting. Very intriguing and fresh. It was inspiring to me as an author to see her ideas coming off the page. I constantly had a movie of the book going in my head. It was a really cool visual book. Sexy, exciting and it kept me guessing. It's not a kids book, thankfully, and the first person voice was very real for me.



The book is what I'd call an Urban Fantasy with a very adventurous flair. It quite exciting, though a little complicated toward the end. I knew what was going on, but it was a challenge to understand as the plot gets very complicated as the finale approaches. It's definitely hard to see the ending coming. It has a very cool twist. The book can stand alone, or you can read more in the Weather Warden series. I've got about fifty more books on my shelf to read, but I really want to read the next one.



Happy reading and happy new year!



Paul Genesse, Author and Editor

Author of The Golden Cord

Book One of the Iron Dragon Series

www.paulgenesse.com






View all my reviews.