Does My Hero Have A Blaster or A Bow and Arrow?

Weapons haven’t been a big deal in my novels so far. My characters have them of course but none of them have names, much less grand titles like the swords (and everything else) in Lord of the Rings possess.

For my science fiction, I quite deliberately chose to give my characters the classic ‘blaster’. I grew up reading books and watching movies where the blaster was the weapon of choice and I wanted to have my own chance to talk about them. (No, I don’t explain how they work.) I do use a militaryish designation for them – most of my Special Forces characters wield the Mark 27 or M27 for short.

In the ancient Egyptian novels, my characters use a variety of swords, knives, bows and spears. I don’t really describe the weapons in any detail but I try to remain aware that the swords of the time, for example, weren’t like the elaborate weapons of the Middle Ages.

Here’s an excerpt from Magic of the Nile where Captain Sahure is talking to the heroine Tyema about his bow and battle:

“You may have noticed I keep my war bow and a full quiver of arrows on the chariot at all times.” He rose from the blanket where their dinner was spread out and returned a moment later with a gleaming recurved bow and one arrow. Making the movements seem effortless, he strung the bow. “After we eat I’ll be glad to do some target shooting for you. But you’ll have to help me retrieve the arrows. Can’t waste weaponry.”

“Gladly, although I have a feeling you’re being too modest. You probably don’t miss what you’re aiming for very often.” Tyema held out her hands. “May I see the bow?”

“Can’t afford to miss the target in combat.” He handed the weapon over and sat down, picking up his mug of beer. “Try to pull the bowstring,” he invited.

Struggling against the tension of the bow, Tyema found she could only move the string a few inches. “Clearly I’m not meant to be an archer.”

“We train endlessly for a reason,” Sahure said. He thumped one bicep with his fist. “It takes awhile to gain the strength to use a bow well and then the power must be maintained through frequent exercise. Speed, strength, stability make for a good bow and an effective fighter.”

“And a keen eye, no doubt.” She turned the bow over, examining the construction. “What kind of horn is this on the underside?”

“We call that the belly of the bow,” he said. “Mine is made with the finest ibyx horn. The rest is willow, the parts bound together with sinew of the gazelle and glue. It’s served me well. When I was younger, learning my warcraft, I had smaller bows, with less power, easier to draw. Those are packed away in my family’s armory now, for training my sons, if someday I might be so blessed as to have any.”

Setting aside the bow, Tyema examined the arrow, running her fingers over the striped feathers at the end and then touching the sharp point with her thumb. “Bronze tipped?”

He nodded. “Pharoah’s armorers turn these out by the thousands.”

“But did the Mitanni have archers too?”

“They no doubt thought themselves to be gods of warfare, having placed three men in a chariot. The enemy that day had a driver, a shield bearer and a spearman in each vehicle.” Sahure laughed, as if the memory was a pleasing one. “Fools.”

Seeing his amusement, Tyema was puzzled. “Extra manpower and weapons must give an advantage, surely?”

“But consider the weight of three men such as myself in a chariot,” he said. “Requires the vehicle to be heavier and therefore slower. Ours turn in the wink of an eye, you’ve experienced that yourself when we’ve practiced driving.”

Tyema nodded agreement, remembering the excitement of the horses galloping full out and then wheeling in a great arc, dust flying, as she redirected them in a maneuver Sahure had assured her was typical on the battlefield. “Without toppling over.”

He pointed a cautionary finger at her. “If done right.  Their cumbersome vehicles could barely maneuver at all. And I can shoot a volley of arrows from a distance, where their soldiers could only hurl spear after spear from fairly close in. They ran out of spears well before we exhausted our arrows.”

“So victory was easily obtained then?” Tyema tried to imagine hundreds of chariots coming together in combat. She shivered at the mental picture.

Face set in grave lines, no trace of his amusement remaining, Sahure reached to take the bow, setting it beside him. “No, victory is never easy. Even with our advantage of speed and maneuverability, many good men fell that day to win the battle for Egypt.”

Happy Not to Write A Synopsis

Just pretty flowers with which to illustrate the post!

One of the things I'm very happy about as an independently published author is that I never have to write a synopsis again. Blurbs, yes, but that's another story and not this week's topic...as other Whores have noted in their posts, writing the synopsis for your novel is a challenge. Do I say too much, do I say too little, do I give away the whole plot, do they need to know about this minor character in Chapter 30....lots of time and effort.

I have written them, back in the day when I was subbing to some trad publishers and ebook publishers. I must have done ok, since Carina Press published my first two ancient Egyptian fantasy romances. I can't even find the one I wrote for Priestess of the Nile but I did locate the one for Warrior of the Nile, and it seems to have been a pretty bare bones recitation of the plot highlights. It did generate a revise and resubmit letter from Carina, and I made a lot of changes and then the book was acquired. I wrote one for Mission to Mahjundar which was good enough to get a request for a full from another publisher but then they passed on the book itself. That turned out ok for me, however, as they soon after went out of business and I eventually self published the book.

So that's kinda my entire experience with writing synopses. And I can't really generate any advice for you from that.

As a contest judge for unpublished manuscripts I've also seen some short version synopses that ranged from telling the entire backstory before the book itself would begin (not too helpful) to a really good explanation of the main characters, what's at stake for them and the outcome (enticing).

I think Linda had a lot of good suggestions and links in her post this week so you might go check it out again if you missed it. Loved her term "synopsi". KA Krantz also had some good specifics in her post. Not to slight Jeffe, James, Marshall and Michelle!!!

Here's a terrific, concise excerpt from a Bob Mayer class (I have great respect for him), some good sound bites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmF3Zr3L2tI   He talks fast though!

And in other news, I was notified that Magic of the Nile won the Hearts Through History Romancing the Novel Contest! WHEE!

What Makes Me A Peevish Reader

I'm fairly easy going, especially if the story is well told but there are a few things that set me off.

The eagles in any tale of Middle Earth. They appear out of nowhere to save the day at so many critical moments, with NO rhyme or reason...one wonders why these lovely creatures didn't just solve everything, with no need for Fellowship or Journeys or pretty much anything else. I bet they could have gotten rid of Sauron if anyone had just asked them....There are so many memes on this one - I know I'm not alone.

I'm not too fond of characters acting like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (unless of course I was reading that novel by Robert Louis Stevenson) just because it makes the plot work. Sweet on this page, a harpy on the next page, back to sweet.....hot/cold/hot/cold....no thanks, unless you can give me some logical juicy motivation for the mood swings.

Not exactly a peeve, but if the author gets too formulaic, I'll eventually give up on their books or series and move on. (Unless of course the formula is one I dearly love!) But for example, there was a terrific suspense author years ago whose heroines were always named Mary (and this wasn't a series about a heroine named Mary) and whose heroes began uttering pretty much the same dialog from book to book as they moved through scenes I swore I'd read before. OK, I'm not buying the next one!

But the one plot device that will cause me to stop reading and mark the book as DNF (Did Not Finish) is when the entire plot revolves around two people not talking to each other about some simple thing which, if they'd only trusted each other, picked up the phone, written a note....SOMETHING, conflict resolved. But no, we have to trudge on through many many pages of artificially sustained conflict. Talk to each other, characters!

Oh, and closely related to that one, I have next to NO patience for heroines who for YEARS hide the child that they conceived with the one great love of their life and then somehow Fate brings them all back together again. It just makes me too sad/mad to think of all the years the father and the child missed out on, based on whatever whim the heroine had about not letting the guy know. Obviously my peeve occurs when the hero is a standup good guy and she could have easily told him. He wasn't some evil dude, an abuser or marooned on Mars on a covert black op. I get that the authors supply the mothers with some justification for why they kept the secret but I usually can't buy it and I'm just ticked off. So I avoid those as I'm not the target audience.

(And although there is a baby in Magic of the Nile, the mother tries to notify the father as soon as she's aware she's pregnant but there were a lot of communication challenges in 1550 BCE! SPOILER: And he meets his son at about six months old, not years later...)

OOH, can I squeeze in one more??? Springing a cliffhanger ending on me! I LOATHE those.

OK, rant over, have a nice day!

Loves Book Trailers Here are Three

I love book trailers! And in a nice piece of serendipity, I happen to have a new one for my latest Best Seller, Star Cruise: Marooned, just off an exclusive reveal at USA Today:




My first ever book trailer in 2012 was purely a treat to myself because it was like a mini scifi movie of my book  Wreck of the Nebula Dream. I think everyone knows my fondest dream is to have my books made into movies or TV, so this video was the next best thing at the time LOL. Some of the stock photos have since been used a zillion times for other authors' book covers and trailers so I won't include the Wreck video here. (It's at  https://youtu.be/0oA3NpmxTZI )

When I was ready to have a couple trailers done for my historical fantasy series set in ancient Egypt, I had to find a new provider, since the first person had moved on to to other career pursuits. I'm not at all tech-y so there was no question of my doing a video by myself. My new contractor wanted me to be much more involved in all the choices, but the collaborative process was fun, selecting just the right stock music and finding photos to try to fit the mood (and represent the hero and heroine). We had lively conversations and unusual challenges, such as electric lights in an otherwise great photo of an  ancient tomb! I certainly looked at a LOT of stock photos of people and places. We did several book trailers together. Here are two:




For my latest trailer, the one at the top of the post, I went with Circle of Seven Productions, in part because my individual contractor had pretty much stepped away from the trailer-making, and also because I'd seen a topnotch trailer for one of Christine Feehan's books, Viper Game, that really impressed me. I also like the idea of working with a company whose primary focus is making book teasers and trailers, not a sideline to their higher priorities. I was fortunate enough to work with the same producer at CoS who did Ms. Feehan's trailer, Michel Miller. I love the result on Star Cruise: Marooned. I'll definitely work with them again. Another advantage from CoS is that they include other distribution channels besides youtube in the fees.

I'd love to have them make a full-on live action book trailer for me but that's way above my budget at this stage.

So why do I have book trailers:
1. They make me happy. Plain and simple.
2. They're excellent promo tools, not in and of themselves but because it gives me something else to tweet relating to the books, Share on FB, add to my Amazon Author Central page, my blog...two have been recommended on USAT/Happily Ever After. (Full disclosure, I am a biweekly contributor there with my SciFi Encounters column.)
3. With several of the books, I definitely saw an upswing in sales after the trailers were revealed.
4. A video always has that potential to go REALLY BIG and viral....

I heard what fellow Word Whore Marshall said on Thursday, about book trailers "lacking any sense of the filmic language" and "trailers are not good advertising for what books really are..." I respectfully submit that different folks have different standards, I also think a good book trailer does do what a movie trailer does - it distills the essence of the story and makes you feel you really want to read that book or see that movie.

And further, in this multimedia world we have today, I think it's a good idea to use the video to promote the written word. It works for me!


Buy Links: Amazon     iBooks     Kobo     Barnes & Noble

Environment as a Character

I haven't actually done too much with the environment as a character in my books. It's been highly interesting to read what each of my fellow Whores had to say this week, made mental notes for myself for the future. I've had sandstorms in my ancient Egyptian books, and done quite a bit with the edge of the Afterlife and the Lake of Fire...here's a short excerpt from Magic of the Nile where the hero is crossing through the Lake after the goddess Sekhmet has helpfully parted it for him:

Purring, Sekhmet released her grip on his arm, and he sprinted forward, into the lake, running down the center of the path she’d cleared for him. Uncanny, glowing creatures flopped on the black sands, gasping for the world of fire they normally swam in. The stench from the lakebed was overwhelming. He tried to avoid the grotesque fish and other animals as he went, nearly falling when something squished under his sandal. Catching his balance, he ventured too close to the wall of fire and a long, suckered tentacle snaked out to encircle him. He parried the blow with the shield, bringing the sword down on the thick ropy limb a second later, severing it. Accompanied by a deafening scream from below the fire’s surface, the stump withdrew into the lake. The piece curled around his waist fell away. Kicking it aside, breathing hard, Sahure broke into a run again, realizing he had to keep his distance from the boundaries.

Here are a few of my favorite movies where the environment is front and center in the story:

Dante’s Peak – the volcano, the acid lake, the earthquakes, the boiling hot springs, the flood, the lahar, the ash so thick you can’t see…and it was a pleasure to watch Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton battle through all this. I had no idea Forest Service trucks were so sturdy!

Last Days of Pompeii (the 1985 version with hunky Duncan
Regehr and Linda Purl battling the volcano)…

Twister – Bill “Going Green” Paxton and Helen “He’s with Me” Hunt chasing tornadoes of all sizes, with their merry crew…when I lived in Northern Alabama, in a tornado alley, the weather was an even bigger phobia for me than snakes. I dreamt several times I’d died in a tornado so….moving to California took care of that issue. But then, we have…

Earthquake – the kinda dumb one with Charlton Heston – and Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones (love him) and Don Cheadle (adore him), which also featured quakes along the way, and for which we saw some key scenes filmed in downtown LA one night….

Armageddon – the environment in question is outer space and an asteroid but with Billy Bob Thornton leading NASA and Bruce Willis leading the charge, we were ok.

The Day After Tomorrow, if I may add one more?

In all of these the characters had to act and react to the environment.

I apologize if this post is a bit disjointed but a very dear friend got rushed to the hospital tonight with bleeding in the brain and so I’m not at my best, waiting for updates.

The Only Good Reason For Time

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."  Albert Einstein

Good advice for authors...

I’m not very good at keeping track of the passage of time in my novels. I tend to write stories with adventures that happen pretty speedily, like in Wreck of the Nebula Dream where the characters only have a few hours to get away before the ship blows up or Other Bad Things Happen (no spoilers). But even then, in classic disaster movie format, I did spend the first part of the book letting my hero meet the people he was destined to rescue, so I had to figure out what the heck he would do on a spaceliner for two or three days!  At one point poor Nick is so bored, and has exhausted the amenities to the point he muses about spending the rest of the trip in cryo sleep. Of course that would have meant no novel and maybe no Nick, given there was going to be this wreck….*

I sort of do what Marcella shared yesterday – at some point during the writing of the novel, I sit down with a pad of lavender paper and I start writing out what happened on Day One, Day Two etc.

Sometimes dealing with the issue calls for research, as in Magic of the Nile, where my hero Sahure had to travel various places in ancient Egypt in his chariot, as well as with a small army, some of whom were on foot.  So how fast could a chariot travel, how far was the oasis of Kharga from Thebes, how far did an ancient army typically march in a day….apparently the ancient Roman legions covered 10 to 15 miles per day by the way. I gave myself a pass when Sahure and Tyema, the heroine, end up in an area of the Afterlife, battling demons. That took as long as it took, while back in Egypt only one night passed. Thanks to the goddess Sekhmet for an assist there! Gotta love magic when you can deploy it….

In my new novel Ghost of the Nile (coming in May if all goes well), I set my time-challenged self a real hurdle. The main character has exactly thirty days in Egypt to accomplish the task the goddess Ma’at has set for him. (The ancient Egyptian month was thirty days so my plot was tied to that.) Of course she didn’t exactly explain everything beforehand (what goddess does?).  I had to do a lot of scribbling on my lavender pad as the writing progressed. “If they spend three days here, and one day each way in travel…ok, no maybe they stay four days and there’s a mock combat contest…” I have Periseneb the hero keeping track of each day as it passes – no pressure!

I’d be very bad at writing a novel that spanned decades or centuries. I’d probably do a lot of “and then time passed until…” stuff that would annoy my editor and my readers LOL. Kinda like one of those old time Hollywood biography movies where the person whose life is being dramatized shows up as a baby for a few frames (blink and you miss him/her), then a kid for maybe a quick character-building incident, then he/she is in love or in the army or what-have-you and THEN we get to the part of the lifetime the movie is interested in. With maybe a final shot of our person as a much beloved oldster propped up on a lot of pillows, dispensing one last gem of wisdom before the music swells and the credits roll. Yeah, I could write that!

*Wreck of the Nebula Dream is on sale now for 99 cents, by the way. "Titanic in space..."

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    All Romance eBooks    iTunes    Kobo

One Character Is Not Like the Other Character Because...

Since I like to write the same general type of adventure stories whether I’m doing science fiction romance or ancient Egyptian paranormal romance, I do have to pay attention to making the hero and heroine in each book different from the others I've written. Not all real life Special Forces soldiers are carbon copies of each other, any more than every businesswoman has the same outlook and knowledge…which holds true for ancient temple priestesses as well!

I spend quite a bit of time thinking about the character, in terms of their life experiences previous to the moments in time captured in my book. Why are they the person they’ve come to be, and how does that life experience shape the way they’re going to handle what gets thrown at them in the course of the book? I don’t make notes or keep spreadsheets (because that’s not me, folks) but I know enough in my head to write the person’s journey.

For example, in Priestess of the Nile, Merys the heroine is a bit naïve, does her best to keep some semblance of worship going at an abandoned temple.  It’s her connection to her late mother, and the one thing her unpleasant stepmother can’t take away. So her choices and the risks she takes stem from that situation. The love of Sobek the Crocodile God (in his human form) is everything to her.

 In the sequel, Magic of the Nile, her younger halfsister Tyema is now the high priestess of a full-blown temple, running all the associated businesses as well as the ceremonies.  Tyema was a victim of an

enemy attack on her village when she was young. When I first started working on the book I felt it would be unrealistic for her to have reached adulthood with no aftereffects from the terrible ordeal,  even though she grew up to take over the temple and runs its complex business affairs at the god’s direct command.  She’s structured her life to be in control at all times, as much as possible, to avoid triggering or even revealing the symptoms of her malady. The coping plan works for her until Sahure, a handsome, noble warrior, is sent by Pharaoh on assignment to her remote province. Complications for Tyema – good and bad – spiral from there.

Although Tyema’s anxiety is only one aspect of the book’s plot, the condition and the lengths she goes to cope drive some of the decisions.  The ancient Egyptians wouldn’t have understood an anxiety attack the way we do today, and they certainly had no idea how to effectively deal with it. “Cures” tended to be heavily based in magic and some fundamentally misguided theories of female anatomy.  Even Sobek, who takes care of the Nile and is a force of nature, doesn’t understand the struggles of his priestess. “She knows I watch over her - why isn’t that enough?”  the god asks in the novel.

Tyema isn’t magically cured by the end of the novel because that’s not realistic in any world, but she and Sahure have a better understanding of what she’s dealing with, and what she’s capable of.

I wish I had time today to talk about the research and thinking I did to arrive at the human version of the Crocodile God (what motivates him, what would attract him to a human woman, what’s he afraid of…) but alas, this week’s topic is done….so there you have my somewhat organix "think it out"  approach to developing and differentiating my characters.

April is National Anxiety Month, which is partly why I’ve focused on the issue today. I'm one of the 40 million people who have anxiety issues, mine triggered by a bad car crash years ago. My priestess heroine had few choices 3500 years ago, but nowadays there are things to be done if anxiety becomes a problem in conducting daily life.  For more information on anxiety, I encourage you to check out the National Institutes of Health “AnxietyDisorders” page. Don’t hesitate to seek help if you’re having issues that could be anxiety-related. Talking to your family physician is a great place to start!

Show vs. Tell When Writing Emotions

I have no very scientific process for showing my readers that the characters in my books have emotions. When I have a scene to write that's going to demand a lot of emotion on the page, I try to mentally place myself in the moment (versus just writing with the flow, which is good for my first draft but doesn't encompass all the little movements and stage business and etc., that will help the reader relate to what the character is feeling. Takes second draft for me to get there usually!).

I'm sure I still have a LOT to learn about showing versus telling but trust me, I've come a long way since my first stab at writing!

Rather than tell here, I'll show. A scene from Magic of the Nile, set in 1550 BCE:

          Tyema forced her lips to curve in apparent good humor and nodded at the appropriate points as best she could, finishing the day’s work and finally escaping into the private garden a few hours later. The whole time her fingers itched to pull the private letter out of her pocket and read it. The baby was unusually restless as well, perhaps sensing her own inner turmoil.

            She sat on her favorite bench, under a large acacia tree, next to an unruly bed of chrysanthemums. Taking the scroll out of her pocket and balancing it in one hand, she stared at it for a long moment.  Resting the other hand on top of her swollen abdomen, she said, “This is from your father, little one. Do you think he’d write me if he bore me ill will?” It warmed her to think she’d been on Sahure’s mind, wherever he was. “Well, only one way to find out.” 

         She broke the seal with her fingernail, sending little shards of red wax falling to the pavement, and unrolled the scroll.  The writing was bold, slashing black hieratic.  From Sahure, Captain in Pharaoh’s Own Regiment to Tyema, High Priestess of Sobek in the Ibis Nome, may the gods grant you life, prosperity, health. Now posted by Pharaoh to take command of the Southern Oasis. I think of you often.  His personal cartouche was scrawled at the bottom of the papyrus. 

               A bit disappointed, Tyema flipped the scroll over to be sure she hadn’t missed anything. “Not lover-like in the least.” She remembered how proud he was of his station as a warrior. “You never claimed to be a poet, did you, my love?” Shaking her head, she levered herself from the bench. It was frustrating to be so big and awkward. “Still, baby, it’s a tremendous promotion for him.  Huge responsibilities.”

 And the dangerous, remote Southern Oasis isn’t a place he’d take a wife to, so maybe he hasn’t gotten married yet.  Immediately Tyema took herself to task. It was no business of hers where he went, what he did, who he did it with. She’d refused him for her own compelling reasons and nothing had changed. Glancing at her belly as the baby kicked hard, she laughed. “Well, all right, one thing has changed, even if Sahure remains unaware.” 

As she walked into her bedroom, her smile faded. Now that I know where he is, I’m going to have to tell him about our child. He deserves to know. Deciding today wasn’t the day for composing a demanding letter, she pushed the thought away. Time to change out of her simple dress into a robe suitable for singing the evening devotions. But first she put the scroll inside her ivory-and-turquoise embellished keepsake chest, pushing the papyrus to the back, under her tattered doll from childhood and the dried red petals from the flower Sahure had placed in her hair.

Or here's a scene from Escape From Zulaire, set in the far future in outer space, where the

heroine is in a very tight spot:

She stared past the guard to watch the landscape flowing by, trying to make plans, but ideas tumbled one after the other in her mind, useless fragments. The prospect of dying like some old-time sacrifice was too terrifying for her mind to hold. Andi felt herself detach from reality as the vehicle came to a smooth stop beside a partially harvested field of grain. She had the sensation of watching someone else yanked from the vehicle and dragged across the rough ground. That woman twisted, struggled and screamed curses at her captors in four different languages, but Andi remained safe in her quiet cocoon of unreality.

This is not happening to me.

Everything will be all right.

Somehow.

At the center of the field the guards yanked her to a halt, forcing Andi to kneel. Small pebbles and jutting roots dug into her lower legs and knees, the pain snapping her back into harsh reality—this was happening to her, and it was all too real.

As the men held her in the kneeling position, her enemy clutched his long hunt­ing knife in his right hand. A wave of cold determination gave her renewed strength. No, he’s not doing that to me. I won’t make my death easy for him.

Fueled by adrenaline, Andi fought to stand, surprising her captors and actually breaking loose for a second or two. 

I Love Research From Chariots to Crocodiles

...but I can get lost in it sometimes! I do the most in depth research for my paranormal novels set in ancient Egypt. It's not that I don't research some specific things for the science fiction, but the Egypt of thousands of years calls to me. I maintain a large library of actual books, most of which I list on the my blog under the topic of overall historical accuracy. At some point I realized I probably owned a lot of the books I’d need if I was pursuing a degree in Egyptology (but facing no tests).

So how do I pursue this research? I don’t write strictly historical novels because I wanted to have the Egyptian gods and goddesses take direct action in the events. Right away this takes me outside the boundaries of what’s acceptable for historically accurate. I don’t want my novels to be “wallpaper historicals” either though, where I just toss in a few cool looking Egyptian words and make reference to the pyramids, pat the Sphinx on the head and I’m done. I want the Reader to be in ancient Egypt, even if it’s my paranormal version. There are some plot conveniences I want, like talking about actual coins (which the actual deben system was not). I do some deliberate anachronisms to serve my stories.

Let’s take my latest novel MAGIC OF THE NILE. Since it’s a sequel to PRIESTESS OF THE NILE, I’d already done the research into the Crocodile God Sobek, hero of the first book and major player in the second. But for the new book, since we spend time at the temple my heroine Tyema runs, I researched how Sobek’s temples were organized 4000 years ago, a lot more details about crocodiles, how processions were conducted, which deities were important in the capital city of Thebes, the hierarchy of an Egyptian temple’s priesthood, what Pharaoh would wear for different activities, what foods would be served on a big feast day…

I needed my hero Sahure to be dashing, so he’s a charioteer, which was about as dashing as you could get in 1500 BCE. That led to research on chariots, including a wonderful NOVA special, called “Building Pharaoh’s Chariot.” (Available on dvd.) Watching a team of British researchers attempt to reconstruct the chariot of ancient times, with the help of Egyptian craftsmen, basically by studying tomb paintings and the few actual surviving chariots, was amazing.  But where does Sahure need to drive in his gleaming, horse-drawn vehicle?

Turns out there was a chain of fortifications along various Egyptian borders, including at the Southern Oasis of Kharga, located on a major caravan route. I’d already researched caravans pretty heavily for a sequence in DANCER OF THE NILE. That’s one nice thing about writing a series – I can build on the tidbits I’ve learned before.  Also, research suggests plot points and vice versa. Since I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer, this approach works for me! Now I know all about Kharga, including the topography and weather.

At one point, Sahure needs to tell Tyema about a battle he’s fought in beside Pharaoh. I drew a suitable tale to adapt from translations of  4000 year old eyewitness accounts of actual warfare and gave my character the right ‘memories’ to share with the heroine. I also needed to be able to talk about his weapons and tactics. Back to researching bows and arrows of the time…

Were the native people of the Southern Oasis descended from the goddess Sekhmet? They apparently thought so, which sent me off to ponder all the cool facets of her powers and background.  In many cases there are alternate versions of the myths surrounding an Egyptian deity so I’m free to choose the aspects that work for my story and to extrapolate other ideas for my plot.  

A lot of the research I do never shows up directly in the novels, so if by now you’ve been thinking that my books must be pretty dry, dusty tomes, possibly akin to the textbooks, let me reassure you. I have to be able to put myself in the headspace of ancient Egypt, so I can create characters who are believable residents of that time and place, even while they’re having these amazing adventures. I don’t have to show off all my research (except maybe in blog posts LOL). If it doesn’t serve the plot, it doesn’t go in the book, but the knowledge might influence the story’s direction.

It’s trickier than you might think though and I know I don’t always succeed. Let me give you an example from the first draft of DANCER OF THE NILE: “The chariot bounced over iron hard ruts…” The problem? The Egyptians didn’t have iron at this point in time! So I changed it to “bronze hard”…but to a modern reader that’s an unfamiliar phrase and it took me completely out of the flow when I read it. Eventually the line became: “The chariot jounced over deep, hard ruts…” 

So there's my example of how researching one thing takes me to the next and so on and so forth...

And below the art is the NOVA special on chariots:

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And Sometimes There's No Dialog

This week I'm going to share a video -  my shiny new book trailer for Magic of the Nile, which just went live yesterday.

Now Magic of the Nile isn't completely off-topic. Here's a short excerpt from the book, where the conversation in a non-action scene is definitely carrying some double meanings. Tyema the High Priestess and Captain Sahure spent the evening attending a festival together and she never told him who she really was. But now he knows. The temple scribe doesn't know any of this and has already tried to defer Sahure from meeting with Tyema until the following day, to preserve the precious schedule. (Petty bureaucrats existed in all ages!)

She caught her breath as Sahure sauntered in, resplendent in his full uniform, the golden falcon badge prominent on the leather straps crossing his broad chest, scarlet cloak swirling around his legs. He was even more handsome than she’d remembered. He bowed, “Good morning to you, my lady.”

            “And to you, captain.” With great effort, she kept a smile from forming on her lips. Unfamiliar heat pulsed in her core and she suppressed the urge to shift her hips in response.

            “I appreciate your seeing me today instead of tomorrow,” he said, staring at her with narrowed eyes.

            Oh, I couldn’t wait till tomorrow. Tyema remained regally seated in her chair with an effort, curling her fingers tight against the desire to touch him. “I’m sure your business is urgent.”

            “Indeed, I’m here at the command of Pharaoh, very pressing affairs.” He raised his eyebrows and gave a sideways glance at the scribe.

            “You may go, Jemkhufu,” she said, following Sahure’s line of sight.

            “But, my lady, what if notes need to be taken?” The scribe was startled, his eyes opening wide and his mouth hanging open. Tyema never met with anyone alone, other than the god Sobek, so she wasn’t surprised by Jemkhufu’s reaction. Swallowing hard, the scribe glared at Sahure while questioning her order for privacy again. “Are you sure you won’t need me?”

            She tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair. “I’ll call you when we’re done.”

            The scribe gathered up his tablets, rolls of blank papyrus and sharpened quills in an untidy armful and backed from the room, closing the door. She heard him complaining to the guard about the unscheduled audience interfering with the day as the portal closed.

            Before she could say anything, Sahure was standing in front of her, his arms caging her in the chair. “And I thought Theban ladies played games,” he said. “Imagine my surprise this morning to see that the high priestess of Sobek was none other than my little waif from the previous evening. She whom I thought to be Ema was in reality the legendary and rarely seen Tyema herself.”

            “Waif?” Tyema couldn’t decide whether to be amused or insulted. True the plain dress wasn’t the best garment in her wardrobe but surely it didn’t give such an insignificant impression?

            “Were you laughing at me the entire evening?” His tone was cold. “Did you enjoy your masquerade?”

            She put one hand on his chest, trying to push him away, but under her fingers his body was solid muscle, an unyielding wall. “I’m sorry, I didn’t set out to deceive you.”

            He stared at her for a long moment before releasing the chair. He backed up a step. Hands on hips, he asked, “Then why the lie?”

Why indeed? Here's the trailer:

My Hero Has A Side Kick

Well the science fiction romance heroes do anyway. In my SFR's the heroes are usually Sectors Special Forces operators (the far future version of SEALs, you see) and they almost always have a sergeant working alongside. The sergeant is also a medic and all around badass. I have great respect for sergeants. My father was a sergeant at the very end of WWII (busted back to PFC for reasons he was proud of, regarding his men, but we won't discuss all that here.) My late husband was a Staff Sergeant in the USMC Reserves when he was killed (in a civilian accident).

Also, the sergeants are my little tribute to the character of the sergeant in the original 1951 version of "The Thing From Another World." (shown above) Crew chief Bob in that movie knew everything. He was the linchpin of the whole team (and is in the center of the photo).

I like the idea of a tight, two man team sent to deal with dangerous situations, watching each other's sixes.

In Wreck of the Nebula Dream, my hero Nick Jameson is on his way to be court martialled for the loss of his entire team, including the sergeant, on a mission gone really south. When the civilian ship he's on has its catastrophe (this book isn't referred to as "Titanic in space" lightly), his ad hoc team becomes one D'nvannae Brother (think deadly assassin/bodyguard serving an alien goddess) and one determined businesswoman who isn't waiting around to be rescued. Help her or get out of her way, you know? His team expands as they fight to survive and get off the ship. He also ends up shepherding an elderly alien woman, two small children and a Socialite girl who surprises everyone....I deliberately wrote Wreck of the Nebula Dream in classic disaster movie style, so that was the logic behind who forms the nucleus of passengers Nick cares about and tries to save.

Now in my Egyptian series, the plots focus much more tightly on the hero and heroine. The gods of Egypt take an active part in the action but I don't think Horus the Falcon or Sekhmet the Lioness would appreciate being labelled as anyone's side kicks. I know Renenutet the Snake Goddess wouldn't!

The series anchor character is my Pharaoh, Nat-re-Akhte, and through the different books we also catch glimpses of his Great Royal Wife Ashayet and his Chief Scribe, Edekh. While being far too grand to be viewed as a sergeant, Edekh is like Crew Chief Bob - he knows all, he takes care of everything before anyone else even realizes there's a need. Maybe someday I'll have a novel that calls for me to tell you more of Edekh's backstory. I have a whole court of characters ready to deploy if and when the plots call for them to take a bow.

We know from past posts here I don't plot in great detail before I dive into the writing, but I do usually know if there's going to be a "sergeant" involved! I write who and what the book calls for....there will be many minor characters perhaps, like the caravan master in Dancer of the Nile or the lady-in-waiting in Magic of the Nile, but they aren't significant-enough players in the action to be a side kick.

So do I Write Series or Not?

(I have this deja vu feeling I've discussed the topic in this space but it's this week's subject so here goes!)

First let me share my pretty new science fiction romance cover with you, just revealed! (Cover by Fiona Jayde.)The book is going to be out August 18th. It's the third in my loosely connected "Sectors" series, which is a series by virtue of occurring in the same Universe. Along with Wreck of the Nebula Dream and Escape From Zulaire, this new book is set in the galactic space known as the Sectors and features a hero who is a member of the Special Forces. The three heroes don't know each other (or if they do, it's never mentioned, even to me, the Author LOL). Two of the heroines happen to work for the same company, Loxton Galactic Trading, so they may know each other but I've never addressed that question.

I definitely plan to write more stories set in this Universe and have several sketched out. I might write a sequel to one or more of the existing books. We'll have to see. As with everything else, I'm a seat of the pants planner.

My ancient Egyptian paranormal novels are even more connected, being set in the same time frame, 1550BCE, with the Pharaoh Nat-re-Ahkte as the central point. A number of the characters know each other, having served with this fictional ruler as he fought to take the throne and then to defeat the Hyksos invaders. (The Hyksos were real, by the way.) I've written one sequel (Magic of the Nile is a direct sequel to Priestess of the Nile) and have another in mind. I also have some ideas for an actual series, following one set of characters through three books' worth of adventure and plots.

So, you may be saying by now, if I write a series, it's kind of going to be happenstance? Well, yes and no. I tend to think in terms of one book at a time and I realize to have a successful series I really need to sit down and figure out an arc, and the events for each book and the character growth. On the other hand, if I do too much advance thinking, I never write the book because my Muse grows bored with it.

Sort of funny, the first book I ever wrote, at age 7, was a fairy tale starring a princess and herds of flying horses and handsome princes (the hero owned a riverboat for some reason) and many MANY sisters. So I was clearly creating hooks for the inevitable sequels...which I never wrote. I think doing the illustrations wore me out!

In junior high, when I got more serious about writing, I did a science fiction series with about eleven volumes but I vaguely remember not planning ahead. I did use the same characters and they evolved (well, as much as my teen age Muse could envision) but each new adventure came to me separately. No big arc.

In senior high school I wrote another SF series and I did plan the three volume arc...

(Insert years of college, career, children, widowhood, single motherhood, grandchild HERE)

But when I jumped back into writing seriously in late 2010, it was one book at a time. I think I had to get rev myself up to speed, as it were, because my goal for 2015 is definitely to develop and write at least one series. I love series myself, with Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey being one of my favorites, anything by Nalini Singh as my current Must Buy and our own Jeffe coming close behind with her fabulous Twelve Kingdoms fantasy series. I devour such books and crave more!

So we'll see what 2015 brings for me and my Muse!

And here's the blurb for Mission to Mahjundar:

An attempted assassination left Princess Shalira blind as a child and, now that she's of marriageable age, her prospects are not good because of her disability. She's resigned herself to an arranged marriage rather than face life under the thumb of her cold stepmother. But then she meets Mike Varone, a Sectors Special Forces officer sent to Mahjundar by the intergalactic government to retrieve a ship lost in her planet's mountains. After Mike saves Shalira from another assassination attempt, she arranges for him to escort her across the planet to her future husband. She's already falling hard for the deadly offworlder and knows she should deny herself the temptation he represents, but taking Mike along to protect her is the only way she'll live long enough to escape her ruthless stepmother.

Mike, for his part, resists his growing attraction to the princess; he has a mission on this planet and rescuing the vulnerable but brave princess isn't it. No matter how much he wishes it could be.

But what should have been an easy trek through Mahjundar's peaceful lands swiftly turns into an ambush with danger around every turn. Shalira's marriage begins to seem less like an arranged union and more like yet another planned assassination. The more they work together to survive, the harder it becomes to stop themselves from falling in love. Caught in a race against time, can they escape the hostile forces hunting them and make it off the planet?

Can there be a future for a simple soldier and an intergalactic princess?

Inspiration Is Full of Twists, Turns & Research

For my science fiction novels I tend to be fascinated by an event, which leads me to that first "What if" question and then I'm off and running. So far I've been inspired by the sinking of the Titanic, the 1857 Sepoy Incident in India and various other real occurrences. I'll be reading or watching the news and suddenly my eyes glaze over and I start thinking in terms of a plot. I always begin from the point of what I would have done or what it must have been like and go from there.

WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM was inspired by the idea of retelling the story of Titanic, but set in space. I like to have a Special Forces guy as my hero in the SF novels, so I had to figure out why he'd be on board this luxury liner in the first place. Once I knew the answer to that, then the plot began coming together. At some point I realized I had to stop and design my spaceship, because the characters were moving all over and between decks in their efforts to save lives and escape the wrecked vessel. So I'd better know if the cargo hold was on level ten or level 8! I researched cruise ships, aircraft carriers and certain features on the Titanic, all of which gave me plot points and ideas. I drew a really bad schematic of my ship and kept writing.

For the paranormal novels I set in ancient Egypt, I tend to start with a situation (a dancer, captured by the enemy...or a priestess who finds it a personal challenge to be anywhere but inside the safe confines of her temple, suddenly sent to Pharaoh's Court....).

Let’s go with the latter situation, which became my latest novel MAGIC OF THE NILE. Since it’s a sequel to PRIESTESS OF THE NILE, I’d already done the research into the Crocodile God Sobek, hero of the first book and major player in the second. (My inspiration there having been the realization that the god was a shifter, which led to the question what kind of woman would catch such a being's fancy? One with a beautiful voice, since crocodiles have excellent hearing.) But for this book, since we spend time at the temple Tyema runs, I researched how Sobek’s temples were organized 4000 years ago, a lot more details about crocodiles, how processions were conducted, which deities were important in the capital city of Thebes, the hierarchy of an Egyptian temple’s priesthood, what Pharaoh would wear for different activities, what foods would be served on a big feast day…

I needed my hero Sahure to be very dashing, so he’s a charioteer, which was about as dashing as you could get in 1500 BCE. That led to research on chariots, including a wonderful NOVA special, called “Building Pharaoh’s Chariot.” (Available on dvd.) Watching a team of British researchers attempt to reconstruct the chariot of ancient times, with the help of Egyptian craftsmen, basically by studying tomb paintings and the few actual surviving chariots, was amazing.  But where does Sahure need to be in his gleaming, horse-drawn vehicle?

Well, turns out there was a chain of fortifications along various Egyptian borders, including at the Southern Oasis of Kharga, located on a major caravan route. I’d already researched caravans pretty heavily for a sequence in DANCER OF THE NILE. That’s one nice thing about writing a series – I can build on the tidbits I’ve learned before.  Also, research suggests plot points and vice versa. Since I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer, this approach works for me! Now I know all about Kharga, including the topography and weather.

At one point, Sahure needs to tell Tyema about a battle he’s fought in beside Pharaoh. I drew a suitable tale to adapt from translations of  4000 year old eyewitness accounts of actual warfare and gave my character the right ‘memories’ to share with the heroine. So I also needed to be able to talk about his weapons and tactics. Back to researching bows and arrows of the time…

Were the native people of the Southern Oasis descended from the goddess Sekhmet? They certainly thought so, which sent me off to ponder all the cool facets of her powers and background.  Sekhmet became a major player in certain events that take place in my book. In many cases there are alternate versions of the myths surrounding an Egyptian deity so I’m free to choose the aspects that work for my story and to extrapolate other ideas for my plot.  

A lot of the research I do never shows up directly in the novels, so if by now you’re thinking "Wow, her books must be dusty tomes!" hopefully I can reassure you. I have to be able to put myself in the headspace of ancient Egypt, so I can create characters who are believable residents of that time and place, even while they’re having these amazing adventures. I don’t have to show off all my research (except maybe in blog posts LOL). If it doesn’t serve the plot, it doesn’t go in the book, but the knowledge might influence the story’s direction.

For my latest science fiction romance, however, it was a single photo that made me pause and ask myself, "What if?" 89K words later and about to publish in August, turns out there was a lot of action, romance and adventure in that what if!

Do the Dancers Go Before the Crocodile God or After?

Ok, over the last few weeks I've offered up all the conference and panel insights and suggestions I have, so today, I can only offer you a scene from Magic of the Nile wherein the main character Tyema, High Priestess of Sobek from a rural province, is in Thebes. She's participating in a meeting  where they're planning a con - I mean a one day festival with parade! - to honor the Crocodile God. She'll be donating a special animal to the local temple at the god's request. The priests from the temple in Thebes aren't any too happy. (Edekh is Chief Scribe to Pharaoh.)

The door across the room, which only Pharaoh himself could use, opened and Nat-re-Akhte entered the chamber, saying as he crossed the gilded threshold, “No need to genuflect, this isn’t a formal audience.” Today he wore no crown but had the golden uraeus on his brow, held in place by a golden circlet. He carried the blue-and-gold crook and flail of his rank, ritually positioned across his chest.

            Tyema stood aside as Nat-re-Akhte walked past her to his chair, which was a golden marvel, depicting intricate scenes of himself with various gods that were far too detailed for her to fully absorb in one glance. The chair rested on intricately carved lion paws, and was set on a slightly raised dais at the head of the gleaming wooden table. The ever present fan bearers took up station behind Pharaoh and Edekh walked to a place at his right hand.

            “You may be seated,” Pharaoh said, placing the crook and flail on the table in front of him. “Which day is going to be the most propitious for this ceremony?” He gave Tyema a conspiratorial smile. “My zookeeper tells me the beast has already devoured all the fish in his pond and they’ve had to restock.”

            “I’ve cast the omens, Great One, and the day after tomorrow is the ideal date for the new ruler of the bask to be presented to the people of Thebes and installed at our temple,” said the High Priest, displaying no hesitation.

            Pharaoh nodded and Edekh made a note. Tyema sat back in her chair as the men discussed the arrangements for the procession. The city officials were also silent for the most part, apparently in the meeting to receive instructions, not to make suggestions. She had no opinion about the parade, the local Sobek priests knew their own city and how to organize things here. Perhaps she would have put the second troupe of dancing girls before the sacred image of Sobek, not after as they were going to do, but Tyema had no feeling it mattered to the Crocodile God, so she only nodded when Pharaoh courteously asked her opinion.

            The high priest continued his rundown of the sequence of events. “And when we arrive at the temple, I’ll greet you with the hymn of the seventh hour—”

            “After I’ve sung the hymn of the Abundant Nile,” Tyema said. She felt a tightening in her gut, sure now they would be in opposition. He’d rather I played no part in the day’s ceremonies. He probably wishes I’d just sent the crocodile with only old Hotepre for escort. Well, for that matter, so do I, but the Great One wanted it otherwise.

            The older priest cleared his throat for a moment, blinking. Clearly he wasn’t used to being interrupted. “No need for you to exert yourself, I’m sure. It’s one of the older, less well known hymns after all.  You can sing a brief blessing on the bask at the end of the ceremonies, if you wish. Now then, as I was saying—”

            “The Great One Sobek particularly enjoys the ‘Abundant Nile’, since it praises his efforts to keep the life giving waters flowing freely,” Tyema said, cutting across his words, her voice clear. “As he is sending his crocodile to you, personally selected by him, we need to thank him appropriately.”

            The men from the Theban temple gawked at her. Color becoming even hotter in his gaunt cheeks, the high priest blew out a breath. “My dear girl, we’re duly conscious of the honor the Great One does us here at Thebes. I merely see no need to slow the tempo of the ceremony with additional music. The crowd will naturally wish to see the crocodile installed in the pond as soon as possible.”

            “As High Priestess, it’s my responsibility to conduct the crocodile to your temple and to make the official transfer in proper order,” she said, not at all abashed by his dismissive manner. When it came to anything regarding her duty to Sobek, Tyema felt as if some measure of his strength ran in her veins, and no condescending old man from Thebes could silence her. “I’ll sing ‘Abundant Nile,’ after which you can sing whatever you feel is most appropriate to accept the gift of Sobek and then we’ll proceed to the pond. Whether our audience is one person or ten thousand people, we must honor the Great One Sobek properly.”

            “Well,” Pharaoh said, his voice solemn but his eyes twinkling, “The list of songs is decided then.”

            “Duly noted,” Edekh assured him as the palace scribe by his side made rapid inscriptions on his tablet. The temple scribe shot a wary look at his superiors, but then scratched some notes as well.

            There was an awkward moment of silence. Pharaoh raised his hand and gestured in a lazy circular motion at the priest. “Continue.”

            The man opened and closed his mouth several times before swallowing a sip of wine from the clay goblet his under priest handed him. “Um, yes, um, at the pond, we’ll open the crate—”

            “The child of Sobek doesn’t travel through Thebes in a crate,” Tyema interrupted.

            “You’re not seriously proposing to have a dangerous Nile crocodile carried loose in the procession, are you?” the old man spluttered.

            “Sobek has given me the gift of controlling his children of the Nile when circumstances warrant. I’ll ensure the animal remains calm during the parade through the city, docile until he’s installed in the pond,” Tyema said.

            “I’ve seen this gift or power in action, exactly as the Lady Tyema indicates,” Pharaoh agreed.

            “It would be most exciting,” said one of the younger priests, enthusiasm causing him to speak boldly, earning himself a glare from the High Priest. “Imagine the effect on the crowds, the crocodile on full display, yet posing no danger.”

            “Sobek has selected a magnificent animal to rule over your bask,” Tyema said. “The beast has the rare purple underbelly. It can only benefit your temple to have the people of Thebes behold this marvelous creature, not have him hidden away in a crate.”

            “Consequences will be on your head if this goes awry, if the beast causes injury,” the old priest said, his eyes flashing in anger. He bit his lip and glanced at Pharaoh, seeming to regret his outburst.

            Tyema laid a hand on the collar, touching the emeralds. “Where’s your faith in Sobek, the god we both serve?”

            “Any other concerns?” Pharaoh asked the high priest, his tone mild.

            “No, Great One. I’m satisfied with the arrangements,” he said, sounding as if he was forcing the words out one by one.

            “I’ll need to inspect the pond,” Tyema said, tapping her fingers on the table as she mentally reviewed her list of requirements. “I’m sure all your arrangements are in order, but I can’t bring Sobek’s gift to you with all the pomp and ceremony, only to find some problem in front of Pharaoh and the crowds.”

            Now she thought the old priest was going to have a full-on fit, especially as Pharaoh was nodding agreement with her. “Excellent forethought, Lady Tyema,” the ruler said. “Captain Sahure can conduct you and your crocodile keeper to the temple tomorrow morning, leaving the afternoon for any repairs or alterations to be made. On the appointed day, the palace will provide the usual beer, bread and meat for the afternoon feasting after the procession in honor of Sobek. Edekh will see to the distribution.” He rose, signaling the end of the meeting, and swept out of the chamber.

            Edekh remained, moving closer to Tyema as the high priest came around the table at her. Shaking a finger in her face, the man talked so fast he was spitting. “There’s nothing wrong with my temple’s pond, girl, and I don’t appreciate your trying to embarrass me in front of Pharaoh by suggesting there is.”

            The priest who’d agreed with Tyema before put a restraining hand on his elder’s arm. “I don’t think anyone took her words as carrying intent to insult, sir. The lady is being prudent, cautious with the Great One’s living gift to us.”

            “Sobek gave me the responsibility for his crocodile and I don’t take it lightly,” Tyema said. “I can’t.”

            “Some little nobody from the country, trying to make a place for herself here, no doubt,” the High Priest blustered on.

            “I’ve no desire to live here in Thebes. Running my own temple and managing my own concerns keeps me fully engaged,” Tyema answered, her voice sharp. She leaned toward him. “I speak directly to the god, to learn his will and desire. Surely you do the same?”

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Copyright Veronica Scott 2014