Apr9

Character Spotlight: Miles Reyner the Entertainer

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So this week’s spotlight is on Miles Reyner, the sweet pop star who’s first introduced in Runs In Good Condition.

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Miles is a charming clean-cut teen idol in RiGC in which I kind of combine modern stars like Zach Efron and Justin Beiber with more old-timey super stars like Vivaldi or Mozart. He defies the stereotype of the jerkwad teen with too much fame money and power, but is that simply because he’s trying to make a good impression on Linus’s oldest daughter or not? He’s the reason several songs appear in RiGC, although I’m learning that I will never be able to STOP putting songs in my books, no matter how I try.

The biggest question I get about Miles is why he’s so different in CRIT! than he is in Runs In Good Condition? Well that ultimately comes down to writing teams. I wrote RiGC long before we’d conceived of doing a comic about it and shortly after we started writing CRIT! my brother, Dave Joria, was wondering if he could be “in charge” of a character for writing sessions (aka: D&D games).

I told him I had a Bard in my next book and gave him a loving description of Miles Reyner…and Dave chucked it out the window. That’s why in the comic, Miles is a obtuse, egocentric, bombastic, glory hound in tight leather pants. It was so hilarious I didn’t have the heart to make him stop. He was even the inspiration behind the Handbook for Saucy Bards, which has been our breakout hit!

So does that mean the two Miles have no connection? Wellllll. Let’s just say that Justin Beiber was once a “sweet kid” too.

FUN FACTS:

*Miles is actually Half-elven. It just never comes up in the book (there are LOTS of Half-elves in Gwynnharrafadd). Also, his hair tends to cover his ears.

*One of Mile’s trademark decorations is a quizzing glass on a chain (a sort of monocle with a handle), a fashionable piece of jewelry in the Regency Period.

*Almost all of Miles’ songs are written down in the book with the exception of the opening number for his concert. In my head, he’s always singing this song: the song that inspired him.

The Entertainer by Billy Joel. I do not own the rights to this clip.

That’s it for Miles this week. I look forward to your comments and suggestions for next week’s victim!

 

Apr7

MMORPGs and Character Exploration

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If I haven’t let my geek flag fly enough lately *snort* let me amend that by confessing that I love my MMORPGs. I’m not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination. I only play a few games, namely Lord of the Rings Online, DC Universe Online, Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter, and Star Wars Old Republic. My first real video game was LOTRO back in ’10. There was something about it that caught and hooked me and it wasn’t just visiting all the people and places in Middle Earth that I’d always dreamed of seeing. I made a few of my characters, Linus and Deirdre chiefly, because they lent themselves well to the fantasy genre and I already liked them.

I wanted to make an Elf character, and someone else was using “Morfindel,” so I made Vilori Reagan. He was only a little tertiary character in my book, nothing special, but then something astonishing happened. As I played with Vilori and made more decisions, I began to learn things about him! I learned his likes, his dislikes, his point of view, his motivations and pursuits and dreams!

That’s what gave rise to the Vilori Reagan as he exists in Runs in Good Condition and not just a crotchety one-liner guy.

It didn’t stop there, either. I got to know Linus and Deirdre better too, as well as some of my upcoming characters. Now if I don’t know what a character’s about, I create a character for them and pay very close attention to how they work. What tasks do they like, what don’t they like. Do they like fights or avoid them? Are they abrupt or surreptitious? Do they help people for money or because they feel altruistic? What hobbies do they have? These are all things most writers like to explore to make a fleshed out character.

And maybe, if you’re lucky, some really hilarious incidents will make it into a book, (Like the fact that in Halfling Towns, all of the lamp posts hang their lights at just the right height to conk Linus on the head.)

So just thought I’d toss that out there. MMORPGs are a great way to unwind and kill things when the world looks stupid, but it’s also an enjoyable way to get inside your characters’ heads and get your hands dirty.

 

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Picture courtesy of Lord of the Rings Online and belongs to Turbine Entertainment and Warnr Brothers Home Entertainment

So if you see a Character on the Landroval server that has a name like one of my characters, say hi! it might be me. 🙂

Apr4

Who’s Kevin McRealguy

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A while ago I had this conversation on Facebook:

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Me: Toying with the idea of a male pen name to publish under, but I keep getting the sillies. So far I’ve gotten Mann Riter, Duke Longcock, Dude Macho, Kevin Realguy, and Birk Totesman.
Replies:
1: Jock Manbro?
Me: Slab McRib
1: Stan McDudeguy
2: Chin McNads
Me: Harry Guymember
1: Brock Blokeyfist
Me: Stache Von Surham
1: Sir Male Mansome of the Muscle-upon-Hardbody Mansomes.
Me: Tor Ironbatch
3: Bob Johnson (oh wait.)

 

It was funny enough at first, and I got something like an unprecedented 65 responses, all in the vein of silly names. It was a lot of fun, but in the end it made me very depressed. I kept thinking about what might of happened if I HAD been a male writing Fantasy instead of a woman.

First of all, this discussion popped up after a fellow writer Emma Newman had done a large initiative towards Waterstones books after they published a sort of  “Dummy’s Guide to Fantasy Authors” which featured predominately white male authors. I’m usually pretty much in the dark about this kind of bias. I grew up with brothers, most of my friends growing up were guys, and so on, so I usually think of myself as “one of the guys.” I’d toyed with the idea of a pen name or doing the ‘initial thing’ early on, but decided not to because I naively thought that it wouldn’t matter. “No one is going to care, right?”

It’s only when I see the surprise on people’s face when I tell them I’m an author and the genre is NOT romance or erotica that it hits home. It hits home further when I see people stop at my table to look at my books or comics, only to see that I’m the author/artist and then put it down with a sneer (ouch).

It’s disheartening and annoying to think that people aren’t judging my books by what I wrote in them. Instead they’re judging me and something I can’t control.

I know, I know. Total pity-party time. “Cry me river. Ever think it’s because you just suck and it’s nothing to do with your gender?”

It’s possible. But thanks to the common myth that “women can’t/don’t write Fantasy,” I’m not sure I’ll ever know for sure which it is. I have no “control group.” Unless I were to engage in some rom-com worthy gender-bending disguise antic that would fool the world into thinking I’m a male writer only to have it backfire on me with hilarious results and teaching the world a lesson about gender equality. And then we all have pie and coffee.

Seriously, though, I’m half considering showing up at my next con looking like this:

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I’m out. Peace. 

 

Apr3

So Why Elves?

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Elves were always my favorite part of Lord of the Rings, and most fantasy things come to that. I love the mystery and the majesty of and ancient people still living among us. Their eyes have gods in the elder days and the rise and fall of empires. They have a stoic reticence to interfere yet they always have a philosophical opinion on things. 

But they REALLY became my favorite when I stopped writing serious (read: boring) Fantasy and started reading comedy. Sir Terry Pratchett never wrote up Elves in a comedic light, like he did with the Dwarves—and thank GOD because I’d hate to have to follow that act—but reading his works made me realise that my favorite victims of comedy are people who take themselves to seriously. And there’s nothing more serious than an Elf.

Dignity, and the loss of said dignity, is a great staple of comedy and the greater the dignity, the funnier it is. It’s also when you get people who have illusions of being wise and serious when really they’re a bunch of prats. I always found myself wondering if the Elves really ARE wise and all-knowing or are they just pompous codgers who’re full of shit.

In the end you get lovely character sketches of Elves that are less like Elrond and more like Bertie Wooster.

Throw in lots of money and connections and suicidal tendancies when they get depressed and you get this with pointy ears on:

(I do not own the rights to this clip which is from “And Now For Something Completely Different)

 

…Which is how I came up with Lynald Wingaurd. 

Hope that explains some things. Any further questions about my thing with Elves, feel free to ask in the comments.

 

Apr3

Getting to Know Morfindel

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(Note: This is a repost after the first page got deleted. Apologies)
Character Wednesday!

I had a request for one on Morfindel Cunlias this week and I’m happy to oblige.

Here’s Morf!

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Morf comes from both the Linus Saga books and its parallel dimension CRIT! He’s a young Elf, only 20 when we meet him, who still has a lot of growing to do. He tries to do his very best at all times, but usually ends up stymieing himself with his own naivete and impulsive nature.

He started off as a nuisance newbie hanging on Linus but over the series he’s starting to become Linus’ best friend… a bond that’s put to the test a lot when he falls for Linus’ oldest daughter.

SO! Some fun facts.

* To answer most people’s question, his surname, Cunlias, is pronounced “Koon-lees.”

*His mannerisms and personality are based on one of my best friends.

*Morfindel thinks of Linus as a father figure, even if Linus would rather think of him as a younger brother. He tends to gravitate to fatherly figures after being raised in a male mission since he was three. It also explains his avid attraction to women yet his complete inability to comprehend them.

*He has yellow eyes (those exist, I’ve seen them!) which hint at his true roots. More on that in future books.

*I cut Morfindel’s hair off out of spite because I hated drawing it in the comic. Much sooner in the book, and those tresses’ days are numbered in the comic too. I HATE long hair.

*Morf hates raisins. The monastery used raisins to sweeten a lot of dishes for the children and Morf  got thoroughly sick of them early on.

 

That’s all for this week! Let me know who you want for next week.

Mar31

Sidetracked

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Here’s where I start kicking myself.

Last year (or possibly longer) I endeavored to write a sequel to Madame Bluestocking’s Penny Horrid. I’ve been working steadily on it since, but I’ve come to a startling discovery: I need to back it up again.

Now I’m starting work on the REAL Book 2 and the current Book 2 will later become Book 3. 

This seems to be a big dumb thing with me, where as I start to write a book there seems to be a smaller less fleshed out book hiding in the first chapter. This is exactly what happened to the Linus Saga which has been delayed while Book 3 became Book 4 and Book 3 had to be written again. 

Okay, so bottom line is that there is new stuff involved. And it will be totally awesome. It’s just going to be a bit longer than I wanted. And the bright side is that the NEXT next book will be done that much sooner.

Thanks for your patience. :3

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~MM

Mar28

The Idea Well

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It’s up there on most authors’ “worst questions to be asked,” right up there with, “so do you have a real job?”

“Where do you get your ideas?”

When it comes to simply, “where does our mind fly off to to fetch ideas about worlds that don’t exist and people who aren’t real?”  A person might as well ask, “what magical leprechaun visited you in your sleep and poured whimsical brain dust into your head holes to give you your ideas?”

How do I answer that? There’s no magic rite, no ceremonial dance, no burnt offerings. It’s just there, unbidden, and NEVER on call when I need it. No one really knows where it comes from. I sure don’t. Frankly, I’m not sure I want to because imagination is a terrifying and amazing place.

Usually, though, people are expecting a concrete idea. Like “when I work out,” or “when I was in Mexico for a year,” or “while the doctor was shaving me for my hernia operation,” and that leads to more embarrassing situations for me.

That’s the other thing authors won’t tell you about writing.

Most of us get about 70% our ideas while we’re in the room with the sink.

That’s my Victorian version of “we’re on the can.”

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The porcelain throne, usually around 3 am,  devoid of phones and shampoo bottles to read, barely awake and still half dreaming, I seem to get most of my ideas. Sometimes I luck out and I get ideas in the shower, but it would appear that my muse is a stoned college student who hangs out in bathrooms in weird hours and says, “hey…. hey… hey…hey… I got an idea…. hey… this is great…. dude… dude… You should TOTALLY do a bit in your book… where Linus has no pants.” It then dissolves into giggles and goes to the kitchen for grape soda and cold macaroni salad.

Yup. That’s how the magic happens folks. Oh what glamorous lives we lead.

Mar27

Fighting Chair-butt

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One pitfall if being a writer and artist is the fact that all of those things are done sitting down for hours at a time.
In may case I don’t even have a desk. I have a laptop stand by a couch. So I complete all my tasks like a lounging Roman hedonist, in various states of boneless reclining. So one of the things on my HabitRPG checklist is to get up an exercise.

So today I’m going to try out some of the workouts I found on Neila Rey’s site Like this one here.

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Neila Rey has unlocked the key to getting me off my tuckus, which is appealing to my romantic sense of Fantasy and Heroism. And the best part is that it’s all free! Neila is only accepting gifts from enthusiasts so please consider donating.

Flatter butt? Longer lifespan? Reduce likelihood of developing cancer and heart disease? NAH. I couldn’t be bothered.

Save Middle Earth? Fight with the Free Peoples? Hold the line while Frodo destroys the One Ring? OH HELLS YES.
Granted some of the moves a little hard-core for my marshmallowy body and old-lady knees so I’m going with my limits currently and doing softer versions of some of the ones listed here. Once I stop wheezing after step one I hope to do the full on version one day.

And if destroying the newly risen disciple of Morgoth is not your thing (and why the hell isn’t it? Why do you hate freedom and sunshine?) Neila Rey has you covered with other nerd-themed workouts!
You could fight crime in Gotham, Fight demons to classic 70’s rock hits, channel The Force, or meet far off aliens and engage in lots and lots of running.

 

Happy sweating and stay hydrated! 😀
 

Mar26

Character Wednesday- Vilori Reagan

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I decided that Wed. posts will focus on the characters of my novels and maybe illuminating them a little more for everyone. So to kick off our first CHARACTER WEDNESDAY here is:

VILORI REAGAN

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We first meet Vilori in Runs In Good Condition. He’s a 200-year-old curmudgeonly Elf on Linus’s campaign staff. He doesn’t like Linus much at first and will continue to call him a “thundering moron.” He was a Ranger back in his younger days and one of the first members of the original Rangers Union. He’s married and has two grownup children that we’ve never met. 

Some things we don’t know:

*Vilori had a very sheltered youth and wasn’t even allowed off the family estate until he was fifty years old.

*He created the first “desk job” for Rangers solely so he could spend his days indoors and so he had an excuse to leave home every day.

*Vilori did most of his early work with a Human man named Harcourt, his best friend. When Harcourt grew old and passed away a lot of Vilori’s love for the job died too.

Vilori’s story will become further entangled in Linus’ as it progresses. Keep reading for more info and I hope you like this new feature.

If you have any further questions about Vilori, please post them in the comments!