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Are you planning to write anything else set in Nidal? Maybe outside of Dusk Hall in Pangolais? We didn't actually get to see much of the city itself, outside of the market. Or Nisroch? Seemed like a. . .ah, interesting place. Or something about the Shades of the Uskwood?
Basically, I'm so close to the end of Nightblade and I really don't wanna leave. XD Any suggestions for after? (Other than Hellknight, which I'm already planning to pick up.)
P.S. Love Isiem, and Ascaros is kind of an ass and has made me laugh in wicked glee a few times. And Teglias is just <3 - though for a bit there, I was squinting with crazy theories of him being a certain immortality seeking wizard in disguise. I've mostly discarded that one - feel free to have a chuckle about that.
Also, how is 50 Shades of Nidal coming? ;3
hey hey!!
I'm so happy you had fun with those! (And that is a really fun idea re: Teglias, I am sad I didn't think of it myself. BUMMER. Wouldn't that have been a neat lil' plot twist? An entirely different book, but... well, I'll put it away in the "maybe someday" file.)
Hellknight would honestly be my main follow-up suggestion. I'll go ahead and spoil you now (sorry) that Isiem and Ascaros do not reappear, but there are a couple of familiar faces from earlier books and stories in that one.
...and also that's my answer to the "50 Shades of Nidal" question, actually. Since you ask: that pretty much all went into _Hellknight._ It is, to be sure, a story set in and about Cheliax rather than Nidal, but... yeah.
I finished off Nightblade about an hour or two after I posted, actually. XD And btw I could still totally see a way to work that Teglias idea in, even with how it ended. In fact, the ending just makes it juicier. (And you can totally have the idea, I will literally sign away rights if you so desire to have it. ;3)
Then that seals it! I'll just have to get Hellknight next week when I have some money to do so! Honestly, wish I had these in physical so I could bug you for an autograph. XD And no worries about spoilers - I figured they wouldn't be in Hellknight. But man, would I love to eventually see them again.
And thanks for replying! I could chat about books and characters all day. It's a former fanfiction writer's curse. Kinda struggling not to jump back into that after reading those. *coughcough* I'll try to refrain. :3
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Any chance we'll see Jheraal again ?
There is definitely a chance. I have a mostly-written (well, totally written, mostly revised) manuscript featuring Jheraal in a starring role. It's not completely finished, and I gather there are a few things in flux at the moment, but it is a thing that mostly exists. Mostly. :)
(And you can totally have the idea, I will literally sign away rights if you so desire to have it. ;3)
ahaaa, well, we'll see.
I don't think I'll use exactly that idea, but it does raise some other interesting possibilities with some other things I had vaguely half-formed in the back of my head.
Although right at this particular moment I'm working on a romance project set in 1930s New York (total genre switch!) and I can't really see that character concept working in romance.
Well, maybe. With a more imaginative author. But with me it'll probably have to wait until I switch back to fantasy.
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(And you can totally have the idea, I will literally sign away rights if you so desire to have it. ;3)ahaaa, well, we'll see.
I don't think I'll use exactly that idea, but it does raise some other interesting possibilities with some other things I had vaguely half-formed in the back of my head.
Although right at this particular moment I'm working on a romance project set in 1930s New York (total genre switch!) and I can't really see that character concept working in romance.
Well, maybe. With a more imaginative author. But with me it'll probably have to wait until I switch back to fantasy.
Lol, that is a bit of a genre switch. XD But I do love stuff set near the 1920s... I'll have to keep an eye out.
Back to questions - and I apologize if this was already answered - but...for an unpublished aspiring author, do you think there's a chance of breaking into Pathfinder Tales?
(Also, are any of the Tales set in Riddleport?)
That's a question better directed to James Sutter, but iirc when he's fielded the question in the past, he has indicated that Paizo generally does not look to totally untested authors and prefers to work with people who have some established record.
I can't think of anything offhand set in Riddleport. Which isn't to say that there isn't anything, fiction-wise, just that it's not springing to my mind right away. :)
The fiction in the Shattered Star adventure path is indeed set in Riddleport.
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That's a question better directed to James Sutter, but iirc when he's fielded the question in the past, he has indicated that Paizo generally does not look to totally untested authors and prefers to work with people who have some established record.
I can't think of anything offhand set in Riddleport. Which isn't to say that there isn't anything, fiction-wise, just that it's not springing to my mind right away. :)
Aww. . . I did half expect that answer, though. Suppose that means I should try and finish my novel - any tips on world-building? I'm finding myself getting overwhelmed trying to create an intricate world and the way the countries interact with one another, and how the several different cultures within those countries interact, etc. I'm very good with characters, less-so with all the world-building.
@Kajehase: I was looking for something in Pathfinder Tales specifically. I don't wanna spoil APs for myself, if I can help it. XD (It's why I haven't read Lord of Runes yet.)
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The fiction from the APs is, as far as I can tell, never directly related to the plot of the AP. Even better news, you can read through several of them without tempting yourself with the full AP books here
The collected journals of Eando Kline, Light of a Distant Star, Plague of Light, Guilty Blood, and The Treasure of Far Thallai are all collected fiction from APs
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Aww. . . I did half expect that answer, though. Suppose that means I should try and finish my novel - any tips on world-building? I'm finding myself getting overwhelmed trying to create an intricate world and the way the countries interact with one another, and how the several different cultures within those countries interact, etc. I'm very good with characters, less-so with all the world-building.
Worldbuilding can bog you down, certainly. My only advice there is do some research on "problems in worldbuilding" and avoid them. Keep in mind, however, that your characters are primary, and the world you have to create is what they know of it. A farm boy won't know much about the socioeconomics of the world, or even the geography, mythology, etc outside of his area. I'd advise that you let it grow organically from what they know and not try to solve all of the problems at once. Having said that, keep a log of details so you don't create inconsistencies.
Hope that helps!
Write on!
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Aww. . . I did half expect that answer, though. Suppose that means I should try and finish my novel - any tips on world-building? I'm finding myself getting overwhelmed trying to create an intricate world and the way the countries interact with one another, and how the several different cultures within those countries interact, etc. I'm very good with characters, less-so with all the world-building.Worldbuilding can bog you down, certainly. My only advice there is do some research on "problems in worldbuilding" and avoid them. Keep in mind, however, that your characters are primary, and the world you have to create is what they know of it. A farm boy won't know much about the socioeconomics of the world, or even the geography, mythology, etc outside of his area. I'd advise that you let it grow organically from what they know and not try to solve all of the problems at once. Having said that, keep a log of details so you don't create inconsistencies.
Hope that helps!
Write on!
Thank you! I'll try to keep that in mind. I have a pretty good grasp of the two (three-ish) main characters for the story, and that's usually a strength of mine. I guess I'll just...start writing and just use placeholders when I get to something I haven't thought about yet - for now, then refine it later so it doesn't break flow. I do think I need a rough map, at least, since the character is being informed about rebellions in various locales around the empire... And I will certainly remember to keep a log, thank you! That's a good idea, so I don't have to constantly reread things I've written.
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re: worldbuilding, everybody has their own approach, but what has worked well for me is to seesaw between the story and the world. This is pretty much the same regardless of whether I'm creating an original world or working in a researched setting (either a tie-in universe or a story set in the real world -- those are basically the same in that you have to research what actually exists rather than purely making stuff up on your own).
The constraints and incentives of the world and the specific societal settings they come from will (or should) shape your characters' motivations, backgrounds, and methods. At the same time, some settings will foreclose some story types (you can't set a classic sword and sorcery tale with monsters and magic in real-world Dallas in 2017).
So in general I start with a rough idea of the type of story I want to tell and the genre I want to work in, then figure out the major story beats in the broadest possible fashion. At this point, characters are just placeholder archetypes with one or two defining traits that I think would be fun to write about, and plots are just super vague sketchy arcs.
Then I'll spend some time trying to work out whatever details of society and setting are necessary to ground the plot beats and the characters, and figure out how the ramifications of those cultural and geographical structures would shape the characters' choices and outcomes. It's a continual ping-pong process between character goals/actions driving which parts of the setting I need to figure out next and how those setting details affect the character goals and actions.
This continues throughout outlining (which is where most of the heavy lifting gets done) and onward through writing and revision.
I only ever build out (or research) about as much of the world as is necessary to ground the story in plot points and verisimilitude. The rest can just exist in a fog of "to be determined." If it doesn't influence anything in the immediate story, I'm not going to spend much energy on it, and in any event I find it preferable to leave maximum flexibility to determine other things later as needed.
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Hmm...Thanks Liane! Basically what I'm taking away from you and Chris is that I need to not quite worry so much about knowing everything and just. . .write. I'll give that a shot after this current idea cools off.
Speaking of the current idea: Any info you can share on Nidal, Liane? Specifically any thoughts on the Shades of the Uskwood (and how they fit in with the Court, what they actually do, etc), the Umbral Court's workings (nothing about the Triune, of course, just a general idea of the hierarchy and that sort of thing), and maybe Dusk Hall as well? You gave a taste of it in Nightblade but I was wondering if you could expand on it at all...
*coughcough* Paizo really needs to release a splat book on Nidal...
I just have this story that won't leave me alone, so...I might as well write it, even if it'll just be sitting on my tumblr or elsewhere. (No worries, won't try to make money off it.)
Hope I'm not bothering you too much. ^^;;
(And I read Hellknight and loved it, btw. :3 Never thought I'd enjoy reading about a paladin but you certainly proved that wrong.)
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Here's a question for my fellow PFTales authors: If you're allowed to say, what are you working on now?
I'm currently doing revising/rewriting on a young adult contemporary novel (my first NON SF/F work). There's an interested agent who gave me good feedback and sent me off to make it better. (A revise/resubmit request, which I'm excited about... when I'm not busy worrying that this book will never be done.)
You?
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Here's a question for my fellow PFTales authors: If you're allowed to say, what are you working on now?
Just submitted a hard SF novel, and I'm brushing up a near-future SF Fantasy for submission... Also touching up a fantasy novel being re-tooled for my own world (a new Asian themed area, and a pirate novel) and writing a new fantasy novel for Jaxworld (might submit it, might self-pub it) with a middle-eastern flavor (Shape shifters, djinn, rakshasa, and alchemists, oh my!)
Thanks Gabrielle!
