If you have any questions that you'd like to see answered here, please drop me a line!
Click on one of the questions below.
How long have you been building Mystyria? [top]
Mystyria started with Keswing. In my stories, this is the largest, most holy city in all the land, but back then, it was only a tiny settlement. I wrote a short story (whose name now escapes me) and I wanted it to be set in a fictional place. I decided to make up a small town with a big church that I called ‘Keswing’. My entire story took place in this sparsely inhabited locale. I continued to write other short stories and they branched out from this tiny dwelling. I went north, to Bloodgate, and south, to Sunveil. Through stories, poetry and simple world-building, Mystyria grew. It became somewhat of an obsession of mine. In the early 90s, I kept several notebooks on Mystyria and all that made her shine. I conjured up people, places, unique flowers, distinct animals, and I made sure to catalog it all. Today, Mystyria continues to grow. She will never be too big and no one will ever see all she has to offer; nor will I.
Why Vampires? [top]
For me, vampires were something that had been done on and off screen for so long that people often forgot their roots. These creatures were regarded as monsters that fed by night and slept by day. In every medium they were hulking brutes or small, seductive mistresses that preyed on women and men respectively. Over the years, they became more varied; different settings, different conflicts, and different goals, but the rules always remained the same: fear the sun, hate the cross, and drink the blood. To an extent, these are still engaging details that make for a good story but I thought the entire formula was growing stale. I became tired of such cookie-cutter molds and thought vampires needed to be reinvented.
So I decided to place them in a fantasy setting.
What makes a vampire weak and strong? In folklore, their strengths are derived from evil (ie: Satan via the consumption of blood, the imagery of night, etc.) and their weaknesses come from God (ie: the Cross, the sun, holy water, etc.). So what happens when you place vampires in a fantasy setting where God and Satan as we know them do not apply?
You have to rewrite the rules. I still wanted them to have these same weaknesses and strengths, but I wanted a deeper, more poignant reason for them. It was my mission to give them a richer history and a more a believable existence. Also, it was my intention to create several ‘breeds’ of vampires rather than just your run-of-the-mil generic blood-sucker.
What I came up with was something unique. I treat vampiracy as a completely new being and not just a ‘state’ or ‘disease’. Every vampire is not created equally. There are those that are powerful and those that are extremely weak. I also took heredity into account. Two healthy parents can still give birth to a child with Autism. So, a powerful vampire can create a spawn that’s less than its maker.
Not all of my vampires possess the ability to create spawns. That aspect never made sense to me. If they could all do it, the world would be overrun with them. They would be fighting over blood and eventually places to hide. Their existence would spill out into the world and then everyone would either hunt them or run from them. Either way, the vampire populous would suffer in the long run. So to combat that, only a handful of my breeds can make new ones.
I spent countless hours drawing up my breeds, trying to balance them out, give reasons for them, and enrich their history. The story of the vampire goes back well over a thousand years in my world. There are those that still remember a time when they were yet to be. If you’d like to learn more about my vampires, I invite you to check out my books, as well as my website. You’ll find tons of information in both.
Where do you get your ideas? [top]
I suppose I get them just like any other author—from real life. Our world is so beautiful and it isn’t hard to draw inspiration from. I truly believe that this makes fantasy writing more interesting. When I look at a tree, I simply imagine it in a different setting, or perhaps a different color, or maybe it has eyes and long, thorn-like vines that reach out and grab people. You need only to look at the wondrous beauties of our own world and put a minor twist on them. I’ve found that my ideas and favorite parts of my books have come from this method. For everything else, I try to think of things I haven’t seen. Take my vampires for example. I wanted to write them in a way that (to my knowledge) had never been done. I wanted to give them breeds and make them unique and not just another cookie-cutter Dracula rip-off.
Are your characters modeled after any one that you know? [top]
Of course they are! I study a person’s character as best I can. I often find myself watching body language, speech patterns, and attitude toward certain situations. Back in college I dated a girl who, when nervous, twisted her rings back and forth. A year or so later, when I was writing Tranas, I actually used that. Characters, at least mine for that matter, can be pieced together from various sources. I might take a funny accent from this person, a way of walking from this one, and I may just top it off with this person’s repressed personality. For appearances, it is usually a different method. I tend to pick celebrities for this. Let’s take Dyne for example.
Now normally I’m opposed to giving up secrets such as this, mainly because I want you to put yourself in the character, but I feel that by now, everyone has their own visual representation of her in their head.
Dyne was actually physically based on the Latin pop singer, Shakira. I simply thought of her and envisioned her with Dyne’s personality and character. The only physical difference I gave Dyne was an extra foot in height. Since there are so many photos and videos of such celebrities, studying facial expressions is quite easy. I was able to take stills of Shakira when she appeared angry, sad, and even happy. For me, this makes for a wonderfully accurate visual. You simply look at the picture and you write the story behind it.
What types of books do you mostly read? [top]
Naturally, I read lots of fantasy. Just like a few million other kids, I was a soldier of the grand role playing game D&D. From there, I started reading the corresponding novels set in the worlds of ‘Ravenloft’, ‘Forgotten Realms’, and ‘Greyhawk’. I grew to love these stories and the way these huge worlds were created. I read what I wanted to write but that’s not why I chose those books. I read them because I adored them. Many writers will tell you to ‘write what you know’. I totally disagree. You should ‘write what you like’.
What made you decide to write in the dark-fantasy genre? [top]
There are very few writers today that dabble in this genre, which is very surprising to me. People love fantasy. People love horror. One would think that the two would be put together more often. I chose this genre because I always wanted to do fantasy with not-so-happy endings. There are so many things that we can write about that, given a twist, can turn into an all new and beautiful tale. As I read fantasy novels growing up, I always thought “this would be so much better with a bit more violence” or “the story is good, but I think they are holding back when describing just how barbaric the warrior is”. I wanted a dark-fantasy before I even realized there was such a thing as a dark-fantasy genre.
I bought your book and I would love to have it signed. Is there any way I can send mine to you for an autograph? If so, what will it cost me? [top]
Of course you can! I would be honored, in fact. Just go to my ‘Contact Me’ page, send me a message, and I’ll gladly give you the details. Oh, and it won’t cost you a dime. I couldn’t imagine charging for my signature if you’re good enough to buy my book.
What do you want people to take away from your books? [top]
I would just like for people to be transported away from their daily lives for a little while. I write fantasy for the same reason as I read it: to escape. As a writer, I want readers to be moved by my characters’ actions and words. It is the greatest challenge, as well as the greatest payoff for a reader to be able to put themselves behind the eyes of a character. I want people to be able to relate to what my actors on the page are doing and saying.
What is your writing method and schedule? [top]
I probably differ greatly than most writers. First off, it is worthy to note that I am not a full-time writer. I work full-time and have a two-hour round-trip commute which obviously sucks away much of my time. I’m a firm believer that you need to write every single day to keep yourself sharpened. My ideal time for writing usually falls well after midnight. I’ve found that I have a clearer train of thought when my mind is a little tired. I do this every night, and the amount varies greatly. Some nights I can hammer out twenty to thirty pages while other nights I manage about five or six. Other writers can relate to when I say sometimes you are ‘on your game’ and sometimes you aren’t.
As far as the method, I tend to storyboard my books. I use index cards and write very generic, very vague scene descriptions. These get fleshed out into full pages worth of notes and eventually revert back to a ‘timeline’ item which I storyboard later on. Since I normally have a very clear direction that I want the book to go, I write sections out of order. One of the first parts of The Vampires of Hope’s Covenant that I wrote was the church battle near the end. I usually have my sub-plots thought out pretty well, but I typically go back and add small bits of foreshadowing. The revision process is somewhat tedious. I do around four reads once I’m finished. I normally check for certain things each time; plot, story, character development, and finally structure, flow, and grammar.
But I cannot forget to mention my most vital step. Before each writing session, I pour myself a glass of tea, sit in my chair, turn down the television, bow my head and pray. I ask God to grant me the silence, wisdom, knowledge, and desire to write my next few pages.
Do you do a lot of research? [top]
I do a ton of research! For some odd reason, it’s quite enjoyable to me. In the first book, I got to research snowstorms, vampires, Victorian architecture, and Romanesque armor. In the second book, I learned many new things about ships, erosion, and the mind of manic-depressed women. For the third book, I’ve been learning much about desert climates and exotic wildlife. Sorry, but I can’t tell you all the deal with that one! So in short, I do as much research as I can, as fast as I can. It normally starts toward the end of a project, (i.e. Rage of the Vampire’s research began when I started the second draft of Hope’s Covenant). This process normally lasts up until the day I start to pen the actual novel.
How can I find your books in my state/country?[top]
Since my books are mainly ‘Print-on-demand’, it can be hard to find them in your local libraries and book stores. If you aren’t able to get them online (or just prefer that instant gratification like I do), then go to your local book retailer and ask for them by name, or by their ISBN numbers; 9781425906745 for ‘The Vampires of Hope’s Covenant’ and 9781434312884 for ‘Rage of the Vampire’.