Today I am feeling a little more optimistic about my
writing than I have in a while. In the last week I have gotten two requests for
partials from editors, one for Kingdom of the Dead, and one for The Lion of
Solkara. Now this doesn’t mean that either book is going to be published, it
just means that someone read the synopsis, and in one case a few chapters, and they
wanted to read more.
It is a nice feeling. Progress on my latest novel
has been pretty slow, and this kind of makes up for it.
Why has progress been so slow?
Without getting into too many details, I have
decided to push myself a little and try something I haven’t done before. My latest novel is set in a world full of political
intrigue. Twice now I have tied the story into such a knot I couldn’t unravel
it, and had to start over.
After that, I
had the idea of basing some of the intrigue in the story on actual events which
happened in the Roman Empire, only to be told by an alpha reader that those
parts where “unbelievable” and “could never happen in real life”
I searched the internet for some writing tips and
found a few, but I am still trying to figure out exactly how to do this a)
without putting in an overload of extraneous information into the story b) in a believable
manner c) with enough twists and turns to make it interesting.
I just order Dynasties and Demagogues, a role
playing manual.
Item Description: Rulers
make history -- Dynasties and Demagogues helps you make some history of
your own with an in-depth look at the hidden rules of political intrigue and
power brokering. Players are challenged to unravel the schemes of duplicitous
enemies and allies alike as part of their characters' own rise to power. And
for GMs, Dynasties and Demagogues affords a close look at the
nitty-gritty of political campaigns fraught with plots and counter-plots,
assassinations, duels, and changing allegiances, all tied together in an
intricate web of power relations.
I’ll let you know if it helps. I haven’t played
D&D since college but I remember being the DM was pretty much just writing
a story, which is why I liked doing it so much. Hopefully it is the secret ingredient
that helps me “get it”.
The one saving grace that will make the novel a
little easier is that most of the intrigue is going to be taking place in the
background. And my main character’s arc has him moving away from his life embroiled
in political intrigue. We’ll see how it goes.
If anyone has any tips, please leave them in the
comments.
