You Know You're a Writer When...

So you know that you're a writer when, in the midst of being sick for several days, you think to yourself, "Gee, I should really write down exactly how I am feeling right now so that I can accurately describe a sickness in one of my books." I think if you're a true writer, you can gain inspiration from any situation in life. Lol. I hope that doesn't sound pretentious! So, if Darcy comes down with a flu-like cold in my next book, you'll know where it came from! Okay, that's all I have energy for right now...

New Review of The Oracle

The following is a new review of The Oracle. The woman who wrote this for me is someone I was able to connect with via facebook through a mutual acquaintance while I was writing The Oracle. She's a fellow author of YA literature (Plain Jane, on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Schledia+Benefield) and has become a good online friend. We will get to meet in person for the first time this February when she and her family will be in Birmingham.

"I was introduced to the first book in this series this past summer, and I anxiuosly awaited the release of the second. At this point I find myself desiring the author to finish the third installment before the planned release date. I'm not sure if I will be able to wait that long! I have started reading the first book to my children at night, and they get aggravated with me when I stop for the evening.

I had a difficult time putting The Six down as I read it, and I found it almost impossible to lay down The Oracle. I would literally have to pry myself away. The Oracle keeps you on your toes wondering what could possibly happen next. I was taken by the author's willingness to all such unfortunate events to befall the main character. Her characters are truly loveable, believable, and filled with flaws. The characters and what the author brings into the characters' lives makes your heart swell with joy as well as break with piercing sadness."

Read more reviews of The Oracle at Amazon.com or leave your own!

Like Putting Together a Puzzle

My progress on The White Thread continues to be slow, but at least it is steady! I am currently reading through The Oracle and taking notes on all sorts of seemingly (some of them) small details that I need to keep in mind and/or get right in the next installment. I know that personally, as a reader, I sometimes get so absorbed in a book that it takes on a life of its own and I almost forget for a time that somebody made it all up. It's like the "story" existed somewhere on a higher plane long ago and all the author had to do was "discover" it and write it down. Now, don't think I'm crazy, I mean, I know that this is certainly not the way that stories come to be, but I think it's the really good ones that cause the reader to suspend disbelief in that manner and view the story as "real" events. Along those lines, the suspension of disbelief, particularly in a fantasy tale, will be completely shattered if every single detail does not make perfect sense with the rest of the story. As an independent author, I don't have a particular editor whose sole job is to check for continuity, and it's one of the things that I worry about the most in the writing process. It's also amazing to me, however, how much the entire process is like putting together a puzzle; it's almost mathematical in nature. If I said that Darcy did X here and she did Y here, then those two things together have to equal a Z reaction to this scenario. When I was writing book 1, this was all very simple because it was brand new, and there were a few things that I put in the story that I wish now I had not (because I have to make them work with the rest of the story!). Writing book 2 was difficult in this manner, but manageable, and I think I was able to maintain good continuity, but it's proving much more difficult for book 3, here, which makes sense, I guess. The longer the series gets, the more details and fine plot points (and characters) there are to keep track of. So, all things considered, it's probably very good that I started the notetaking process early, because doing all of this come summer time may have busted my time budget!

On a sidenote, The Six and the Oracle are now available on Kindle for only $8.99 each! Just go the Amazon.com and search K. B. Hoyle.

New Review of The Six

I thought that it might be interesting to publish the most recent Amazon review that I have had of The Six. I chose this review also because it was written by someone who was not an acquaintance or friend of mine previous to his discovery of my books through a write-up in our college alumni newsletter. (It's always good, as a self-published author, to be able to see that people other than my immediate friends and family find my books to be valid and worth reading!) I was contacted by this reviewer and his wife and have since had the privilege of striking up an ongoing correspondence via facebook. I hope you enjoy reading the review, and if you think it might encourage someone you know to try out my books, feel free to pass it along!

"Came across this book by chance and definitely glad I did. In my opinion the first couple of chapters are a little slow, but that's just because all the characters and nuances are being introduced. Once Darcy steps into the woods that first time though is when the speed picks up and it doesn't end until the closing page. You definitely find yourself looking forward to what comes next and there are some definite rewarding moments when you think you figure something out and then you're right. That being said, it's not predictable as I found on a couple of occasions where I gasped or said, "what?!" The details in the book are plentiful, but not to the point that they become excessive and bog down the flow. It's interesting to see the different dynamics develop and then change throughout the book between the characters.

The Six is along the lines of Chronicles of Narnia, Inheritance Cycle, Harry Potter, and even a little Lord of the Rings. However, it is completely on its own in terms of content, but you can see little flecks of those series in The Gateway Chronicles, at least in my opinion, so if you like any or all of those mentioned, I have a feeling you'll definitely like this series.

This book/series has quickly become a family favorite. My wife and I (24 and 23 respectively) love this book/series and my younger brother (16) actually finished this book in EIGHT hours! I have been telling him about it and told him to start reading it. He took a break to eat, and that was about it, if that gives you any indication of the quality and intrigue of this novel.

Greatly reccommended and looking forward to Fall 2011!" ~Ryan T.

Character Development

My productivity over Christmas break was extremely hampered by a nasty outbreak of the stomach flu, and now that I feel somewhat back to normal, I find myself a day away from going back to work. Be that as it may, my brain has been churning regarding The White Thread and my next fantasy series (which shall for now remain nameless). I managed to get the first quarter of The White Thread outlined over break, but in the aftermath of my illness, during which I did not have the energy to write anything, but I did have the energy to think, I began to seriously ponder character development. I am a big believer of the value of a story being in the characters, and for that you need well-written, fully-formed, loveable but flawed, believable characters. If a character in your story is not all of these things, I don't believe that your reader has any real reason to stick with your story. I think that so far I have a good cast of main, supporting, and fringe characters in The Gateway Chronicles, and I'm trying to determine what, if any, new characters I am going to introduce in book 3. The setting of the story is going to be rather contained compared to the first two, at least that's how I view it, and it presents me with a unique opportunity to take some of my supporting or fringe characters and develop them more fully... if I decide to include them in this installment. I also have the opportunity in the confinement of this story to put some of the existing relationships truly to the test. I'm enjoying thinking about how, for example, Darcy and Sam's relationship might grow and change if they are stuck in a confined area with each other for a prolonged period of time. (I realize that I am overusing "confined" but I don't want to elaborate more on what this means for The White Thread just yet so as not to ruin any surprises). Anyhow, I'm going to keep taking notes and do what I can before the summer to prep book 3, perhaps even start writing it! Who knows.

In other character development news, my next un-named series is going to have a serious cast of strong characters! It came to life one night with a name (the same as how The Gateway Chronicles came to life when "Darcy Pennington" popped into my head). While I'm not giving away any names, I will say that it's going to have four main characters between the ages of 15 and 18 and I feel like I know them all so well already. It's going to take place in New York City, and the fantasy element is going to be more like a world within a world rather than a departure from this world. And that's all I have to say about that. ;o)

Moving Forward

While I make no promises whatsoever as to an earlier-than-planned release date for The White Thread, I find myself incapable of NOT moving forward at this point. The thing that's got the fire lit under me? It is (of all things) the desire to start my next fantasy series before another four years have passed. Christmas break is a great time for quiet contemplation (when the children are asleep, that is) and my contemplation has largely centered on new story ideas. I already have about ten series on the back burner from before I ever started The Gateway Chronicles, but I keep coming up with new ideas! (One of which I have particularly fallen in love with, to the point that I even pulled out a pen and paper and sketched my main characters - something I have not done since college). Anyhow, as much as I may love my new idea, I have absolutely no intentions of doing any real work on it until The Gateway Chronicles is complete. SO, I sat down and started going through my White Thread notes and began a very early-stage outline. I named and outlined the first 6 chapters tonight, but my brain won't cooperate! It keeps jumping ahead to much-anticipated scenes, some of which are not even in this installment. So once again I am convicted that I must make every moment of my books as arresting as those scenes that I am just dying to write and share with my audience. And as I get further on this endeavor, I also have more details to juggle in my mind. My notes are already copious, with the promise of more to come, and I think I need a new system of organizing them so that I don't leave anything crucial out of the story. And THIS is why I usually save this process for the summer... Well, we'll see what I get done over Christmas break and whether or not any of it makes the final cut come summertime.

"The Nature of Fantasy"

One of the literary inspirations that I named in my previous post was The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, and I have been recently rereading my way through the series (it gets more delightful and thought-provoking every time I do). I always read the author's notes and introductions at the beginning of every book I read, and in Mr. Alexander's note on book 3 of the series, The Castle of Llyr, he says this: "The nature of fantasy allows happenings which reveal most clearly our own frailties and our own strengths." I had to stop and smile as I pondered the truth of this statement, because it so perfectly sums up why I love fantasy and why I write fantasy. Fantasy as a genre is a unique vessel for the transmittal of truth. A successful fantasy author will transmit truth in such a fashion that the reader will not even realize that they are being "taught" as they read; they will absorb the truth as a part of the story because that truth found in the story resonates with the moral compass within us all. In order for this resonance to take place, however, the reader must find something with which to relate within the story, and that usually happens through good characterization. Let's face it, nobody in real life is going to find himself or herself actually sucked out of this world and deposited into a new world with magic and magical creatures, right? BUT, somebody might be struggling with a particular issue (such as depression or loneliness) that causes them to relate to a character in a book that is going through the same issue. The beauty of fantasy is that it clearly contains heroes and villains, and the reader should relate to the hero in all of his or her struggles and seek to overcome those struggles as the hero does. The genre removes the reader from real life, however, helping this lesson not to feel overly didactic or too much like a self-help book. To bring this closer to home, I've made it no secret that Darcy in my books is very autobiographical. In a way the first book was a public confession of my early teenage flaws. Some of the most beautiful feedback that I've received on my books has come from parents who have told me that their teenage daughters really relate to Darcy. I think that this must be because Darcy reveals to them their own frailties in a (hopefully) non-offensive manner. My hope would next be, of course, that as Darcy grows and changes in the story, that she would also reveal to my younger readers their strengths as well, and how they might find strength in this life.

My discussion on this quote did not come out exactly as I wanted it to, but I hope that you all get the idea anyhow. My guess is that if you are a reader of fantasy, you will read that quote and, like me, nod and smile to yourself because you know how true it is. I would be interested to read some comments on this!

(I'm inserting a link to Amazon where you can purchase The Chronicles of Prydain if you're interested. They make a great gift for readers of all ages and have a male main character for those of you with sons who think that they would more enjoy reading about a boy than a girl. Just click on the title above.)