Have you ever watched a fun movie or show and tried to explain it to family/ friends?

You know the experience – they listen to humor you, but they aren’t as excited as you are. Some might even roll their eyes. Hopefully though, you can sit them down and make them watch a few minutes of your new love. 

Now imagine you describe that movie/ show, but they can’t watch it. It’s not out yet…it’s only in your head.

That’s only one tiny slice of the strangeness of a writer’s life! 

Fortunately, the writing community is full of friends who understand this bizarre existence. That is one of the reasons I’ll be sharing more guest posts this year. Authors sometimes feel isolated and misunderstood (tbh, I think all humans feel that, but we’ll stick with writers for now). Getting an insight into another writer’s process is fascinating, fun, and comforting.

Author Devorah Fox offers just such a glimpse in her guest post below. Even if you aren’t a writer, check out this blog for some insights into writing. You just might find yourself up to the challenge of NaNoWriMo as she was…and you just might find some surprises too!

-RSJ

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One Does Not Refuse the Muse—or the Readers

by Devorah Fox

I envy authors who begin a series by first doing the world-building. Well in advance of penning the first word in Book One, they describe the fictional world in fine detail: time, location, climate, geography, technology, culture. They become intimately acquainted with all the characters include their appearance, their genealogy, their occupation, their foibles, their favorite foods. These savvy authors map out the plot developments for the entire series as well as the individual volumes.

I didn’t do that. I never “planned” to write The Lost King, much less an entire series of The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam. An epic fantasy, The Lost King was my response to the challenge of National Novel Writing Month 2010. Begun in 1999 and now an international phenomenon, I was unaware of the organized writing marathon until a fellow writers’ group member emailed me about it. The goal: write 50,000 words in 30 days. It sounded easy. It wasn’t. I did succeed but once NaNoWriMo was over, I had to write more to find out how the story ended.

I didn’t intend to publish The Lost King, either. I wanted a souvenir of my first NaNoWriMo and a volume to put on my bookshelf sagging under the weight of books signed by authors other than me. Imagine my surprise to discover that clicking “PUBLISH” made The Lost King available to every Amazon.com shopper.

Even more surprising were the five-star reviews and comments that asked, “When does the next book come out?”

The next book? Having not planned to write a sequel much less a series I didn’t have “the next book” in mind. But the readers were right; there was more to King Bewilliam’s saga. A friend’s plight had been my initial inspiration. I wanted to see if I could envision a happy ending. It took more than one story to resolve the king’s dilemma. The King’s Ransom answered some questions and raised new ones, giving rise to The King’s Redress.

By the time I reached “The End” of Book 4, The Redoubt, I felt I had brought King Bewilliam’s story arc to conclusion. I moved on to write several fantasy short stories with a contemporary setting: two episodes for the young superhero Lady Blackwing, two post-apocalyptic tales—“The Last Apple” and “An Ill Wind”—and a portal story, “The Demon of Corpus Christi.” I had no plans for any more bewildering adventures for the medieval king.

I hadn’t counted on the Muse or the king’s devoted fans. I accepted an invitation to contribute to a monumental project for Magic Underground, I had a story idea that suited the plans for a trilogy of fantasy anthologies. I happened to view a Great Courses lecture on Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides, a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher, preeminent astronomer, and physician. I was captivated by his “Parable of the Palace,” part of his Guide to the Perplexed. I could imagine how I would make a novel out of it but whose story would it be?

I polled members of my Facebook group, Inky’s Lair. Should this work feature new characters, I asked, or King Bewilliam and his knights and nobles? The vote was unanimous. The king might have solved the problems he faced in previous tales but his fans wanted his bewildering adventures to continue.

Thus, King Bewilliam’s fifth adventure unfolds in three parts:

“The Mouth of the Dragon: Rumors” in Hidden Magic

“The Mouth of the Dragon: Rules” in Wayward Magic

“The Mouth of the Dragon: Revelations” in Forgotten Magic.

A portal story, this is his most bewildering adventure yet, a departure from his usual exploits in more ways than one. 

I thank Melinda Kucsera of Magical Mayhem press for the opportunity, the Muse for the introducing me to the story idea and the readers for voting King Bewilliam into the ring. 

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And I would like to thank Devorah Fox for this fun guest blog! 

Are you ready to join her and King Bewilliam in their adventures? You’ll find what you need to get start below (Devorah’s bio and links). Feel free to comment here with questions and I’ll make sure they get to her. 

DEVORAH FOX

“What if?” Those two words all too easily send Devorah Fox spinning into flights of fancy. A multi-genre author, she has written a best-selling epic fantasy series, an acclaimed mystery, a popular thriller, and co-authored a contemporary thriller with Jed Donellie. She contributed short stories to a variety of anthologies and has several Mystery and Fantasy Short Reads to her name. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she now lives on the Texas Gulf Coast with rescued tabby cats … and a dragon named Inky. Visit the “Dee-Scoveries” blog at http://devorahfox.com. Sign up for the free e-mail newsletter. 

Amazon Book Links: 

Magic Underground anthology trilogy

The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam epic fantasy series: