I seem to be beyond the point I’m supposed to be. Of course, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, but some parts of me are trying to catch up with the parts of me that are beyond me. Except they aren’t…
…No, no, no, try that again.
What I’m trying to say is this series is flying. Book two, The King’s Sacrifice, is done and out already. It seems only a minute ago I was still in the thick of it, and it felt good having a book “almost done”. Only it’s out and flying and I’m back to a book (book three) that is barely started. It’s a weird feeling, as though I’ve moved so fast I’ve left me behind.
Maybe it’s that I got so used to seeing a deadline, that I still feel a push to be done, and lost that I don’t have a nearly finished book anymore. Like I say, weird. So, I’m getting into book three, but feel like I have jumped over stuff that I haven’t, because it’s done.
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In case you don’t know, The Khekarian Series is a science fiction that is rather more full-blooded than your classic science fiction, although my writing has been rather handsomely likened to Frank Herbert (Dune series) and I have received six excellent reviews so far (hey, it’s early days as yet, The Khekarian Threat was only published in October 2012). See the reviews HERE, I’m pleased with every single one of them.
The King’s Sacrifice has only just gone up (late July 2013), so hasn’t earned any reviews, yet, but that will come.
Personally, I like a story with character. So I write that way. I write stories with characters you feel you meet and get to know, and care about. And not one of them the same as any other.
I write sex very well (and, no, it’s not just me saying so). I always felt, if you’re going to write sex, write SEX. Same with action. My motto has always been DO IT PROPERLY.
Action – particularly fighting – is very hard to write. It’s too easy to get too technical in the description, which halts the story and lifts the reader out of the book – not wanted, by any means. It has to flow, it has to be seen, but at the same time it has to be quick, too.
I happen to be very good at writing action and fight scenes.
Why? Because in order to get good at it, I studied it. I don’t mean a ten week course, either, I mean nearly two years of pretty full on tuition with a bunch of police officers and the expert who taught them a mixture of martial arts called Atemi Jutsu. More than that, I went on to teach it in several states and territories in Australia for five years.
Research has always been the most important thing for me when it comes to writing. A writer who knows what they are writing about is going to give a whole lot more than a writer who doesn’t. So, I was/am always hungry for information.
For The Khekarian Series, I got my license for motorbikes and for semi-trailers, I took up flying, spent an excessive time doing martial arts (years, as stated above), undertook survival courses, and – believe it or not – I learned how to make herbal medicines (and do).
If I couldn’t get hands-on experience, I read up properly on it. I was licensed to own a gun (before Australian citizens were forced to give up their arms) and certainly fired it, but it was the study of police methods of gun handling and some expert techniques that gave me the crisp and interesting descriptions when Jackie (ex-soldier) taught Raoul’s crew how to shoot accurately.
Likewise I learned surgical techniques, criminal psychology, victim psychology, and the ways of manipulators and controllers. I know what drives many types of predator and how different victims feel.
I’ve also studied training and methodology of the police, the armed forces and special forces.
Lots of little things, too, like getting the communication at airports from tower to plane right. They have a special way of talking and it’s for a reason – so, get it right, I did. As a result, I know what they mean by Squawk. Do you? Do you know why a controller will instruct a pilot to “Say altitude”? Do you know what a transponder is?
This isn’t a quiz, I’m just saying I learnt these things along the way. As for “squawk”, read The Khekarian Threat to find out – 😀 – not only have I explained it well, I’ve slipped in the why without slowing the story. Most readers won’t be aware they’ve just learned some little thing they didn’t know about before.
All of this research has been brilliant and it enables me to write with accuracy. That’s important.
Ever read about someone clicking the safety off a glock? Not going to happen! Study glocks!
I won’t name any, but I have seen famous modern authors write absolute blunders where clearly they have strayed into an area they don’t know and haven’t studied. Writers make mistakes because they are in a hurry or they plain think they already know.
I will do my utmost not to let that happen to me.
By the way, that’s why I know my books are a good read. I’m not guessing, I’m not hoping, I know. Forty years of that sort of in-depth research plus an equal amount of time learning how to express myself (even with the fun nonsense I opened this post with), makes good reading material.
If you are interested in seeing for yourself and not just hearing me waffle, check out a few chapters of The Khekarian Threat, all free to read, right here on this blog:
Sevi (Beginning of Chapter 5)
I write because I love to read. I also write because I love to write. I follow no author’s style, I do my own style. I want excitement, realism in both action and reason, good characterization, a bloody good deep plot that rivets me, and most of all I want a book I don’t want to put down. And that’s how I write, because it’s important to me to give you those things, too.
Cheers all! 😀
Allyson
Bloodstone Sci Fi 