Rise of the Short Novel

May2

I am a fast writer. I can have a 100k manuscript written in 100 days, but it is, to quote Anne Lamott, ‘a shitty first draft’. I then go through a three-month editing process before seeing to my editor. She then takes two months process with a professional editor, another month or two of rewrites based on her feedback, a final round with the editor, and then a beta reader or two.

A high quality novel takes time. It takes a huge amount of effort and creativity. The process needs to be respected.

The novel now shares the shelf with the novella, the short story and flash fiction. Numerous writers have explained to me the lure and skill in writing any of these shorter forms. There is a need for succinctness in descriptions, plot, and the need to hook the reader immediately. I get it. Not my cup of tea, but I understand that there are other aspects to the craft that appeal to people.

But there is also the Churn Mill. It is becoming common to meet writers who proudly announce they are writing a novel a month…or week, and that this is an integral part of their business model. The plan is basically to have a long backlist of books: 20, 50, 100… and hope to hook a reader to one book that will infuse them with desire to buy the other 99.

My issue is not with them having a business plan. There is no shame in writing for money. But I am uncomfortable with the way they are treating their readers. It should never be all about the numbers, not if we are considering ourselves artists, and not if ever want to betray our readers.

I wrote about how Terry Brooks appreciates his audience. I saw this week, after Daniel Arenson posted some news on his Facebook page, how he took the trouble to answer his readers’ questions and to thank them. These are authors who, I am sure, know they must bind their readers to them for business reasons, but who genuinely enjoy engaging with the people who invest money and time in their books.

Terry Brooks

My readers know I love writing full-length novels. The first draft can be up to 120,000 words long and after my editor has worked her magic, the word count hovers just under the 100,00 word mark.

A novel allows the reader to travel to another world, to get to know characters intimately, see how they develop, and build a friendship with them. It allows the reader to escape and live for a while in a fantasy world.

There is something rich and emotionally investing in reading a full-length novel and a series. I can define periods of my life as I traveled through Shannara, Alagaesia, and Middle Earth. They are milestones that illuminate certain times.

I will forever be grateful to Christopher Paolini who wrote his Eragon books at the perfect time for me to share with my sons, a bond we will always have, and that laid the foundation for their companionship through the Wycaan Master series. Whenever we are on the road together and see a beautiful vista, one of us murmurs Alagaesia, and we all nod.

Reading Book 6 in the summer of 2015. End of an era.

Enough said.

Finally, thank you to everyone who participated in the April sale. I appreciate your support and hope you will enjoy the entire series. Please: take a few minutes and leave reviews for the books you read on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews are critical for the author and I thank you in advance for helping.

Have a good week, everyone.

Alon

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, and five other Wycaan Master books all released by Tourmaline Books. The link above takes you to the Kindle versions. For all other eReaders, please click here.

More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter).

The Changing Pace of Novels

Feb15

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post highlighting my favorite novels from 2015. The list included the venerable George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss. I am currently reading the third Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Followers of this blog will know that I hold Terry Brooks, Christopher Paolini, and Robert Jordan in high regard, and that I am somewhat obsessed with a certain Oxford professor.

What do they share in common? Okay – they are wildly successful and have dedicated hordes of followers – no need to rub it in. But I am referring to their writing styles. All these authors write slow-paced novels with intricate details about characters, their actions and personifications, and the world they exist in. Each writes thick tomes that you need to make a commitment to reading.

nXGrbMR

The industry, so the experts expound, believes novels should be fast-paced. They demand that we hit the ground running: “Show me a hook!” we demand in our writer’s group. “You only have 20 pages to grab your reader,” “10 pages,” “5.” Sometimes it is the first paragraph or sentence.

If you look at the reviews of my Wycaan Master series, you will see compliments such as:

– The plot and action keep you turning pages

– It’s fast paced

– Shalev delivers a well-paced novel

And my favorite:

– Fantasy that moves at a blistering pace

I am proud of these reviews because this was my intention. I wrote the series fast because I believed that is what the industry (which purports to know the readers) demands.

But I am having my doubts. I want to add the layers that the aforementioned wrote and I believe that a large segment of epic fantasy readers crave this too. I want to create a rich world in which the readers lose themselves. I want to offer a deeper insight into the mores of the society and analyze the intricacies and inconsistencies of my characters.

Tolkein spends three pages describing Mirkwood. I probably skimmed over it when I first read The Hobbit, but as I have grown older, I seem to enjoy it, thrive on it even.

Mirkwood

I see how this does not pan out on the screen. I have watched all fifty episodes of Game of Thrones, and am now enthralled with The Shannara Chronicles. But if I were to be critical (perish the thought), I would say they have missed out so much. Of course, this would mean that each GoT season would last a couple of years but hey, you won’t hear any complaints from me!

But back to the world of novels: What do you prefer between the fast-paced, action-packed novels and those that take their time?

Love to hear.

elfwriter

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, The First Decree, and three more novels in the Wycaan Master Series – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose, is the latest in the series. The story continues.

Shalev is also the author of three social justice-themed novels including Unwanted Heroes. He swears there is a connection. More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter). Hang out with Alon on Google+

RELEASED! From Ashes They Rose

Oct1

Dear Friends,

Thank you! Thank You! Thank you! Whether you are a keen reader of the Wycaan Master series, follow my Elfwriter blog or twitter sites, are members of the California Writer’s Club or the Berkeley Writer’s Circle, or whether you are just some poor soul who keeps bumping into this optimistic writer with a propensity to gaze up at the mountains or out to sea…Thank You!

Today, Tourmaline Books released From Ashes They Rose, the fifth Wycaan Master novel. Every time I have a book released, it feels surreal. The excitement and pride are as fresh as they were when the award-winning At The Walls Of Galbrieth, was released five years ago.

The first few days of a book release are critical to its trajectory, so please consider purchasing the paperback here and the e-book here. In celebration of the release, Tourmaline Books has made the first three novels available as e-books for 99 cents each. This sale will only continue until after the weekend. Please click on the book cover below for the link to each book.

Finally, a quick thank you to the amazing team who supported me:

Monica Buntin, my editor, who makes sense of the jumble of words I send her.

William Kenney, for the cover design, artwork, and vision. He has an amazing capacity to create something beautiful out of the vague ideas I throw at him.

Jeny and Rutchie at The Fast Fingers, who format the book with such professionalism and are willing to let me bug them every week or so (okay, maybe more!).

Ariela, Pele & Asif – my family, who have the patience to listen to every first draft and endure the silences when I travel far away in the land of Odessiya.

I hope From Ashes They Rose lives up to its predecessors. It does take on a more complex hue, but as we say in the elven tongue: C’est la vie. Once read, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Thank you again for your support. Good Reading!

Alon Shalev.
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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, and four more novels in the Wycaan Master Series – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose, is the latest in the series. The story continues.

The Facts of (Publishing) Life.

Aug4

I really should not be surprised. My publisher has done this to me before. They have taken my award-winning At The Walls Of Galbrieth, the opening book of the Wycaan Master series and, in celebration of the impending release of Book 5, are offering the ebook version for 99 cents.

Let me rephrase this: the novel I toiled over for two years (twice as long as any other might I add), the novel that I sweated over as I read it to a disbelieving writer’s group (I was already known for three published social-justice themed novels which distinctly lacked any elves or dwarves), and it bears repeating, that novel that won the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award.

I would like to rant that my novel is being sold for the price of a cup of coffee, but I defy you to go find a decent cuppa joe less than three times that amount. It takes a few minutes to create the perfect latte, but a novel…

Now I think my publishers like (more likely tolerate) me because I am not a prima donna. I roll with the punches, the change in book title, cover design, date of publication, and book price … eh usually.

They explained patiently that the excitement generated around a book release that is deep into a series is a great time to get people who have been thinking of starting a new fantasy series to take the first step. It is a strategic marketing tactic they say.

Now I know they are totally right, way smarter than me about such things, but that really doesn’t help. All I see is a book I poured my heart into, a novel that made me cry and cheer, and want to learn archery and swordplay. It is a novel of a young elf, written with the thought how the sons I wrote this for might react. As such, the protagonist, Seanchai, became another son. And so I shared in his fears, frustrations, exhilarations, and his first love.

Now you can share that too…all for the price of, well: help me out Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – It was 99 cents!

But if I could have it my way, it won’t be for long! Have a great week,

Elfwriter – Alon Shalev.

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, and three more novels in the Wycaan Master Series: The First Decree, Ashbar – Wycaan Master Book 3, and Sacrificial Flame – all released by Tourmaline Books. From Ashes They Rose, the fifth in the series, will be released in September 2015. The story continues.

Shalev is also the author of three social justice-themed novels including Unwanted Heroes. He swears there is a connection. More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter). Hang out with Alon on Google+

Sir Terry Pratchett RIP – a woefully inadequate tribute

Mar15

Sir Terry Pratchett died this week. I have struggled to find something to write – funny but not irreverent. In the end I wrote this short and rather inadequate tribute to a genius who has given me and so many such pleasure for decades. One of my best friends even found his future wife on a Discworld Convention organizing committee.

Christopher Priest, from the Guardian, describes one of Sir Terry’s characters – Death: “Death has a booming, unamused voice (always in capitals, never in quotation marks), and is the permanent straight man in the comic chaos around him. He goes about his morbid business on a horse called Binky, whose hooves throw up sparks on every street cobble. Death is a skeleton, with eyes like two tiny blue stars set deep within the sockets. He wears a black cloak, carries a scythe and, at the end of a day’s work, loves to murder a curry.”

I called up DEATH last night. “Did you have to take him so soon? He had more to live, more to write.”

I DO NOT MAKE THE CHOICES he replied, his tone powerful and metallic, even on Skype.

“He was a great man, a wonderful author,” I said. “He gave me years of pleasure.”

THROUGH HIS STORIES?

“Yes,” I said. “He made me laugh. At the end of a long day or week, to curl up on the couch and be able to laugh, was…was magical.”

THESE STORIES ARE IN HIS BOOKS, NO?

“Yes,” I reply, annoyed that he is not relating to my grief. It’s not like DEATH never sees it in his line of work.

THEN THEY ARE STILL WILL YOU AND WILL ALWAYS BE AS LONG AS YOU HAVE TREES AND INTERNETS

“You use the Internet?”

DEATH stared at me and frowned. WHERE I LIVE THERE ARE NOT MANY SERVERS. ONLY ALBERT.

“But the world needs writers like Terry.”

I REMEMBER WHEN ALL THIS WILL BE AGAIN.”

“He was a knight,” I said.

Again, DEATH frowned. WHERE I COME FROM THE NIGHT HAS NO STARS.

I smiled. “I bet he was chuffed to see you.”

HE SAID I GAVE HIM QUITE A START.

“Yes? Then you ‘gave him quite a stop.”

HEY. THOSE ARE STILL MY LINES.

I rubbed my chin. “What happens to the characters of a series when the author dies?”

A STORY LIVES AS LONG AS IT IS BEING READ. MAKE SURE YOUR SONS READ DISCWORLD AND THE CHARACTERS REMAIN ALIVE.

“He was a special man.”

THE ONLY ONE TO GIVE ME A REFERENCE.

I guess this is my way to say Thank You to a maverick genius, who wrote the jokes without caring if people would laugh; who wrote about controversy without preaching; and who taught us to strive for a better life without ever teaching.

Thanks for the laughs, the tears, and the wings that swept a generation up with your imagination. Thanks for being such an undemanding companion for much of my life.

Rest In Peace, Sir Terry Pratchett.

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Alon Shalev is the author of the 2013 Eric Hoffer YA Book Award winner, At The Walls of Galbrieth, The First Decree, and Ashbar – Wycaan Master Book 3 – all released by Tourmaline Books. His latest novel is Sacrificial Flame, the fourth in the series.

The Magic of Story

Mar8

The man brought a smile to my face. He wore a gray suit; a red power tie, shiny black shoes and he made his way through the streets of San Francisco’s Financial District this early Thursday morning. I really should not have followed him, but I needed the walk before starting my day… and I needed to know what captivated him.

Not quite as cool as this guy, but you get the idea!

You see, the man was oblivious to where he was walking, who he passed, or who sat in the plethora of breakfast venues, already deep in crucial meetings. He was in a world of his own.

Well not exactly his own, I discovered. To be exact, he was in a world that Stephen King had created. The man, dressed ready for another day where millions of dollars might pass from one pocket to another, destined by the scribble of his signature or click of his mouse, could not tear himself away from the grip of the novel he read as he walked.

And that, my friends is the magic. That is why we write: not just to tell the story that must be told, but also to transfer our readers to a world we created. Most writers, I believe, know the adrenaline rush of being sucked into their own story.

When I wrote the climatic chapters of Ashbar – Wycaan Master Book 3, I wrote 10,000 words almost without a break. My long-suffering better half recalls how my lips moved and scattered, broken sentences leaving my mouth. I remember nothing but the urge to pound the keyboard. It could have been smoking as armies clashed, heroes died, and evil was vanquished (or not – read the book J).

I love watching my sons read my novels, but I have never yet seen an adult totally absorbed as the businessman was this morning. I have a fond memory of a mother telling me that she can’t pry her son from Sacrificial Flame and, while cute, he is not doing his homework.

I apologized as sincerely as I could muster. I’ve no doubt she saw through my pathetically concealed smug expression. I once saw a woman reading another of my books, The Accidental Activist, on the train – that was thrilling.

But I want to see a person, walking the streets, trying to wrench him/herself from the clutches of one of my novels, to apologetically insert the bookmark, close the book, and count down the hours until the commute home and the opportunity to return to Seanchai and the land of Odessiya.

I want to be Stephen King, even if just for a morning walk in the Financial District. I want to see one of my novels cast its magic on some unsuspecting reader.

Then I will be a Craft Master like Stephen King.

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More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter).

Crumbs of the Great Craft Masters

Jan18

I want to give credit to Toby Hewson who gave me this idea: What I learned from the Gods of Fantasy? I have learned from many authors, not just the craft masters, but this post will focus on the select few.

Terry Pratchett taught me about invention of an old theme. He created a world that was fantastical and yet so familiar. His satirical approach to Discworld was always engrossing and we welcomed familiar themes as they surfaced among the new ideas in each new novel.

George RR Martin taught me about depth of character in supporting roles. There is no excuse for making every single character special or unpredictable. It does not have to happen immediately, but when a character steps from the limelight to center stage, we are enthralled, but not totally surprised. This is a huge task for anyone and Martin does it with a thousand characters. I have mentioned before how much I have learned from him. Okay, I have also taken his name in vain, but I am full of respect for him.

Stephen King taught me about simplicity of language and being accessible to readers. I am too much of a wimp to appreciate his stories, but On Writing is my writing Bible, and required reading…annually.
J.R.R. Tolkien taught me the opposite. It is possible to write elaboration, flowery, delightful fantasy prose. Can you describe a forest in three pages? Y’betcha and they will even make it into a movie or six. Tolkien also taught me the importance of giving my fantasy world a sense of history and leveraging that throughout the saga.

Terry Brooks taught me about having a well-worked story that had no loose ends or unnecessary scenes so the story flows. Brooks also has built a rich history of his world – Shannara – and a genealogy that excites his many followers. Again, his writing is very balanced between plot (action) and character development. He has the ability to give a strong and distinctive voice to each of his main characters.

Terry Goodkind is edgy without going over-the-top. His stories are simpler, but he adds little traits to make his characters familiar to us and a great job bonding us to them.

R.A. Salvatore taught me to create a rich world and non-stereotypical characters. His first Drizzt book takes place underground and is so impressive. I remember being blown away by it. I have not been disappointed going forward.

There is much we can learn from these masters of our craft, but the most important one is READ, READ, READ.

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More at http://www.alonshalev.com and on Twitter (@elfwriter).

Happy New Year – Request For Help

Jan10

Dear Friends,

With the beautiful lights, the presents, the family gatherings and the never-ending food behind us, I want to take a moment and wish you all a happy new year.

I am feeling particularly celebratory because I just wrote those magical words at the end of Wycaan Master Book 6 – THE END. It feels great, an end of an era for me, even as I now have two manuscripts to edit myself before sending each to my illustrious editor – probably just spoilt her new year!

As I turn my attention to my marketing strategy for 2015, I have a request. It will cost you $2.99 and 5 minutes of your valuable time. I wish to submit Sacrificial Flame, which I think is my strongest novel in the series to a number of high-profile book review and promotion websites. What is holding me back is that I have not focused on getting reviews. I need 20 reviews for the novel to be accepted for certain programs and I have only accrued eight.

Could you find time to craft a short review and put on Amazon? Sacrificial Flame can be found here and can be read before Books 1-3 if you have not read them. It transitions into the next generation and anything dependent upon the previous series will be explained.

Thank you for being such great colleagues and supporters. I look forward to another great year ahead as a thriving writer’s community.

Happy New Year,

Alon

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ALON SHALEV

At The Walls Of Galbrieth, Wycaan Master Book 1,

2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award Winner – YA Category.

The Story Continues: Sacrificial Flame – Wycaan Master Book 4

More info at http://www.alonshalev.com/

Part 2 – Top Elfwriter Blog Posts 2014 – The Writing Process

Dec29

I realize I have a few posts written in 2014 more relevant to the writing process that I would like to share. Hope you enjoy. Happy Hols’.

To The Long Suffering Writer’s Spouse – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-nG

Walking Away From A Fantasy Series – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-nT

They Grow Up So Fast – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-kc

Will My Stories Be My Legacy? http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-n4

I Met My Protagonist At Starbucks – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-nl

The Addiction of Novel Writing – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-nz

Last Week I Disappeared – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-lE

The Pressure To Produce – An Author’s Perspective – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-kT

When Authors Reach For Immortality – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-kq

Finally, as previously mentioned, in honor of Tourmaline Books’ announcement that all Wycaan Master novels are $0.99 for the holiday period –a post from last year:

It Was 99 Cents…Again – http://wp.me/p1Xaeb-lM

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Elfwriter

A Fantasy Author

Tag Archives: Wycaan Master series

Rise of the Short Novel

The Changing Pace of Novels

RELEASED! From Ashes They Rose

The Magic of Story

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