Feb21

The Blue Series — Muddy Waters

on February 21st, 2012 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Blues, Books, The Way of the Black Beast

When it comes to the Blues, one of the most important figures is McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters.

From The Official Muddy Waters website bio (which is lengthy but well worth reading) comes this:

The [Chicago] revolution began inauspiciously enough in 1948 with the release of a 78-rpm single by a singer-guitarist called Muddy Waters. Coupled on Aristocrat 1305 were a pair of traditional Mississippi Delta-styled pieces “I Cant Be Satisfied” and “I Feel Like Going Home,” and on them Waters’ dark, majestic singing. Waters’ use of amplification gave his guitar playing a new, powerful, striking edge and sonority that introduced to traditional music a sound its listeners found very exciting, comfortably familiar yet strangely compelling and, above all, immensely powerful, urgent.

Here’s the thing about Muddy.  He brought electricity into the blues.  He created the Chicago blues style which, in turn, has been a major influence on rock music.  Though he played a simple style (as compared to the multi-layered finger-picking of Robert Johnson), he brought something new to it, and in doing so, created a fresh sound that just didn’t exist before.

There’s a song by Guns ‘N’ Roses called “Double Talkin’ Jive” — stay with me, here.  It’s a fast, rocking piece.  At the end, during an extended solo, the song fades out and is replaced by the exact same song, only this time, they are playing acoustic guitars.  You realize quit quickly that the entire hard-rock song is really just a electrified version of a flamenco piece.

That’s Muddy Waters.

He took old acoustic blues — Delta folk songs, really — stripped it down and electrified it.  Sounds simple enough, but he made it work as something new.

As a writer, this a main part of my job.  All the stories have been done before.  Much of what I do is take what already exists and find some new nugget, new approach, new sliver of something about these stories that feels fresh and different.

The Malja Chronicles is, at its core, a post-apocalyptic survival story with magic.  I’ve described it in the past as Xena meets Mad Max.  The fact that we can describe our work in this way is proof that we’re reworking older stories.  So what makes it fresh?  Well, the fact that magic (not oil) was the main energy source for the world before the Devastation has been intriguing readers, as well as the mixture of worlds that I’ve created.  It’s not a traditional medieval fantasy nor is it a classic SF apocalyptic tale.  And nothing shows that better than my favorite assassins — the Bluesmen.

So, when you create anything — stories, music, paintings, anything — don’t fret about being new and different.  Think like Muddy.  Strip it down, find something fresh in what’s already there, and go forward.

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Feb07

Guest Post: Gail Z. Martin

on February 7th, 2012 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Guest Posts

Another Guest Post today to celebrate the release of Gail’s newest book.  I’ve known Gail for many years now and though she lives just a hop and a skip away, I tend only to see her on the con circuit.  That’s the way it is with a lot of writers.  Weird.  Anyway, Gail writes wonderful epic fantasy adventures and she’s being gracious enough to spend a little time here with us today.  Take it away, Gail!

The End of the World As We Know It

My newest book, The Dread: Book Two in The Fallen Kings Cycle, confronts a medieval world on the brink of a “War of Unmaking.”  Plague, famine, civilian unrest, pretenders to the throne, usurpers, traitors and a foreign invasion—along with betrayals large and small—have set the monarchies of the Winter Kingdoms on a collision course with war.  The stakes are huge, and no matter who wins and who loses, neither the kingdoms nor the main characters will ever be the same.

Sure, I drew on ancient Asian, Sumerian, and Celtic/Norse mythology, as well as my own fevered imagination to conjure up this war-torn world, but I’m certain that the angst in modern headlines had some subconscious influence over the decision to set in motion a cataclysm that changes the course of history.

I also blame some of it on my undergraduate training as a historian, taught by professors who saw flashpoints in history more as a confluence of trends rather than the handiwork of a single “great man.”  Where a single individual rises to such prominence as to seem capable of personally changing history, I’ve been taught to look deeper, to see the societal, religious, financial, cultural and other shifts that made it possible for the “great man” to come to the fore and achieve such prominence.

Personally, I find this a more interesting reading of history than seeing an endless procession of heroes and villains who are larger than life.  And as an author, I think that the idea that those who become heroes and villains stand astride the crest of a great flow of other circumstances makes a story much more intriguing as well.  While my characters always have choices, both they and the readers should feel that other forces are pressing toward particular options, or making other choices unsatisfactory.  Sometimes, the hero chooses to swim against the tide. In other situations, he (or she) rides the swell, realizing how little control they have over the rushing torrent, trying to make the best of it.  Throw magic, active deities, and two groups of immortal enemies into the equation, and all bets are off.

Part of the fun for me with epic fantasy is having a big enough canvas to set up this kind of cataclysm and bring the reader along for the ride.  The story that begins in The Sworn: Book One of the Fallen Kings Cycle, finds its conclusion in The Dread, but those who have been with me for all four preceding Chronicles of the Necromancer books will find old loose ends tied up and unfinished business brought to a close.

So is this the end of adventures in the world of the Winter Kingdoms?  No.  But my surviving characters do deserve a little rest!  So while the survivors rebuild, I’ll be bringing out a brand new series, The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, from Orbit in 2013.  Time to start the mayhem all over again!

You can find The Dread in stores and online everywhere.  For more about my books, please visit www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com, and like me on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms.  I blog at DisquietingVisions.com, host author interviews at GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com, and tweet @GailZMartin.

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Jan31

The Big Influencer — Stagecoach

on January 31st, 2012 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Movies, Books, The Way of the Sword and Gun

No big spoiler here, but there is a pretty big chase scene in The Way of the Sword and Gun, and aside from being a whole heckuva lotta fun to write, the scene is a great example of how other media can influence a writer’s work.  A few people, especially those who have heard me pitch The Malja Chronicles as “Xena meets Mad Max,” might logically conclude that the big chase scene is heavily influenced by the big gas truck chase in The Road Warrior.  And they would be both 100% right and 100% wrong.

See, that phenomenal bit of SF movie action is wonderful (and still holds pretty well today) and without a doubt, inspired the idea for the big chase in my book.  However, the scene in the Mad Max movie is itself inspired by another film, one that I happen to watch not knowing the connection.  That movie is Stagecoach.

Stagecoach is an old, black & white western starring John Wayne and directed by the incomparable John Ford.  One evening during the planning stage of The Way of the Sword and Gun, I decided to watch this film.  I have always been a big Clint Eastwood western fan and never cared much for John Wayne, but I also never gave John Wayne that much of a try.  Couple that with the fact that the movie Stagecoach is referred to as one of the all-time greats by many living all-time greats (such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola), I figured I should check it out.

And what do I find?

There’s a crucial, exciting, and huge chase scene.  While watching it, I recognized this movie as the source material not only of The Road Warrior, but just about any big action chase scene.  It made me rethink my little chase scene, look closer at the rhythm of the scene, and add elements that I think turned the whole piece into an exciting, action-packed experience.

Besides revealing some source material here, I wanted to bring this up because it illustrates the way multiple influences can layer atop each other.  In this case, The Road Warrior and Stagecoach.  But those are only the ones I’m conscious of in this regard.  Considering the far-reaching influence Stagecoach has had on film-makers and storytellers, I wouldn’t be surprised if my scene enjoyed deeper connections that I’m not entirely aware of on the conscious level.

Point is — even when we know why we do things in the work we create, we don’t always know.

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Jan24

Guest Post: David B. Coe

on January 24th, 2012 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Guest Posts

Since this blog is all about influences on writing, and since I have developed numerous writer friends over the years, I figured why not put the two together?  So, this first guest post on the subject of influences comes from one of my best writer friends and a fantastic epic fantasy author, David B. Coe.  He’s been in this game for a long time and has plenty of wonderful thoughts on the subject.  He also blogs about writing and writing business over at Magical Words.  Take it away, David:

 

What influences us when we write?  What external factors shape our characters, our settings, our narratives?  When Stuart approached me about guest blogging on the subject, my initial thought was that I have no idea what shapes my thinking on any particular book or story.

But the more I think about my recent novels, the more I realize that my work is very much a product of social and political trends I see in today’s world.

When I started Rules of Ascension, the first book in my Winds of the Forelands quintet, I had in mind to write a series that entertained with magic and political scheming and romance, while also delving into issues of race and prejudice.  I studied history, and had long been interested in racial history and ethnic identity.  But I was also looking to write a book with cool magic in it.  And, after spending a couple of weeks visiting Wales and exploring the ruins of castles at Caernarfon, Beaumaris, and Conwy, I knew that I wanted to write something with lots of castle intrigue.

That is the book I thought I was writing with Rules — something fun, filled with dukes and castle sieges and spells.  But I wrote that book in 2000 and 2001, and had just started work on Seeds of Betrayal, the second book in the sequence, when the 9/11 attacks occurred.

Without planning it, in a way without even realizing it, I allowed the aftermath of 9/11 to shape the rest of that series as well as the three volumes of the Blood of the Southlands, which were a follow-up to the Forelands books.  I don’t want to give away too much of the plotting, but it’s enough to say that on one side of the racial divide were people who tried to navigate the waters between acquiescing in their own victimization and giving in to violent extremism.  At the same time, the other side vacillated between tolerance of those who differed from them and cruel repression rooted in irrational paranoia.

Of course, all of this happens within the context of magic and a quasi-medieval political system.  It is quite possible to read the five Forelands books and the three Southlands books without ever seeing in the narrative a post-9/11 parable.  On the other hand, if you’re looking for it, it’s certainly there.

And I want to say again that it was not something I planned.  The events of 2001-2003 influenced profoundly the writing I did in that period, but it really wasn’t until I was concluding the fourth book that I became fully aware of that influence.  Most of it crept in, fed by my subconscious, by the yin-yang of my own emotions:  my concerns for the safety and security of my family, my friends, my country, and, simultaneously, my disgust with the jingoistic rhetoric driving policy makers on both sides of the aisle in Washington.

I am a historian as well as a writer.  I have used works of fiction, as well as other art forms, as source material for historical research.  I know as well as anyone that it is nearly impossible for an author — or an artist of any other sort — to step completely out of his or her time when creating.  All literature is, to some degree, a product of the climate in which it was written.  Sometimes those contemporary influences are quite obvious — think of Huckleberry Finn, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1984.  At other times, the influences are far more subtle; Lord of the Rings comes to mind.

But though I know as a historian to consider these factors when reading books and stories from another era, I have to admit that it is odd to see my own fiction shaped by the history around me, particularly since I was largely oblivious of that influence as it was being exerted.  We are, all of us, products of our culture, our society, and, yes, the history to which we bear witness.  My books bear the marks of other novels I have read, of movies and plays I have seen, of music I listened to while writing.  And the most important novels I have published thus far in my career also carry within them reminders of the most searing, tragic event our nation has experienced in the last half century.  I suppose the most surprising thing about this is that it took me so long to recognize the impact of that day on the work that came after.

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Jan17

The Ultimate Influence on Writers

on January 17th, 2012 at 6:00 am
Posted In: Deep Thoughts

This blog is mostly about influences on my writing.  So I talk about the Blues and anime and movies and tough characters and all that kind of stuff.  But something I don’t talk about often is the other major influence on my writing, the most important influence any writer has — Life.

My life, like any life that’s lasted forty years or so, has had plenty of crazy twists and turns.  Amazing people have come in and out of my life.  Some people I would love to cross paths with again — for good times remembered and for apologies I still owe.  Others I’m happy to never set eyes on — some of these out of anger, some out of shame.

And all those relationships, some that lasted years and some that lasted only a day, they all blend into me, they shape me, and as a result, they are my writing.  More than skill, more than hard work, these people and the experiences I had with them make my writing unique.  This is the real thing that separates one writer from another.  This is why a novel by Stuart Jaffe is uniquely different from one by Stephen King.  He and I have a lifetime’s worth of different relationships that formed who we are and how we see the world.  When we think of stories and sit down to write them, the details we pick out, the words we choose to express ourselves, the motivations we give our characters, even the plot devices we employ, are all filtered through the lives we’ve lived.  That’s what really makes the difference.

Writing itself is a skill that can be learned from practice.  But the rest of it is truly created from one’s life.

Think about Henry Miller for a moment.  Tropic of Cancer could never have been written by, say, Ernest Hemingway.  The two men led such different lives (though they probably both consumed equal amounts of alcohol), knew such vastly different people, and so, neither could ever have come up with the story of the other.  Henry Miller trying to write Hills Like White Elephants would be a travesty.  Heck, Miller couldn’t conceive of such a story let alone write it.  He’d be more interested in what led to those two having sex and the act itself rather than the aftermath.  And Hemingway trying to write Tropic of Cancer?  For all his bluster, he’d never be able to do more than hint (in some sparse but poignant declarative sentences) at the physical nature of those relationships.

Why?  Because both men went in and out of different relationships that shaped them.  And I don’t mean just romantic relationships.  I’m talking family, friendships, even a work relationship — the type of boss a person has or co-workers.

Every single person we encounter, every moment we breathe, we change who we are.  It is the reason the books I write today are utterly foreign when compared to my writing from a decade ago.  Life has changed me, and so it has changed my writing. This is the ultimate influence on our writing, the one that we can never escape.

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